Another belt sander grinder
John Meikrantz
>I have been working on using belt sanders to sharpen and shape tools for a little while, but I never had a setup that worked well enough for me to consider "production quality". After seeing Derek's posts on an Aussie woodworking forum, everything clicked!
My design is a little different than Dereks, in that I used a Craftsman 2 x 42" belt/disc sander, and I used more "commercial" pieces for the tool guide. I took a Torkmek adjustable guide bar and a Tormek horizontal mount (20% off at the Hartville Tool Woodnet sale!) and rigged them up as the tool support. I tried using some Tormek jigs on this, but there is not enough clearance on a flat surface. They would only work well on a grinding wheel setup (more on that in another post). So, I used my Lee Valley tool holder from my bench grinder set up, and it works like a charm with the Tormek bar.
Tool setup is easy, as I just measure approximately 1.25 inches of projection, and then set the Veritas angle gauge (that comes with their grinder tool rest) on the belt, and fine tune the height of the Tormek bar with the thumbscrew until it is at the perfect angle. Takes only a moment to do. Then I just "dab" the tool onto the moving belt, several seconds at a shot. It takes a very short time on each grit to grind the tool. I used a piece of tempered hardboard on the platen as a flat reference surface. It is holding up well, with only minor wear.
For honing, I have a 2 x 42 leather belt from HandAmerican, and charge it with chromium oxide compound. For the leather belt, I don't worry about changing the belt direction, but just reverse the direction of the tool on the bar. Couldn't be easier! It only takes a few seconds of honing with the belt.
By using the Veritas tool holder, I can also go straight from my regular 6" grinder to the belt sander, without having to change the tool position in the holder.
I'm really pleased with how the whole solution functions. Credit to Derek, as seeing his setup in operation finally made everything come together for my own.
Here's some pics:
