Wolverine/Vari grind help

Re: Vari-grind

Clifton C

Karl, I bought Don’s first vertical solution because I like taking classes, giving demoes and visiting other turners shops. The vari-grind seems to be everywhere. One of the nice things about it is that it is well built, and it works. One issue I find is that the distance from the center of the wheel to the platform the clamp block is mounted on changes from grinder to grinder, as in spacers under the grinder or the clamp block. Some have a lot, some have a little some have none. No problem for one turner, one grinder, because it’s constant, but traveling about, I was loosing a lot of steel. So, the reason I like the first version of Don’s vertical solution is I can raise or lower the basket on the V-arm to match any grinder, (within reason) to the height on my grinder, that way, I don’t have to change the jig-leg angle, hence the pinned leg. The leg really isn’t “pinned” permanently, I drilled a hole (1/8) thru the leg and body, then cut a 1/2 inch piece off the drill bit shank to use as the pin, a piece of tape on both sides holds it in place until I want to lose it. I don’t know what Don’s new system offers, seems like there are a lot of adjustments and small parts. I like easy. On the older system (original?) Setting things up only takes a half a minute unless we get to talking then it takes half an hour.

I just measured one of my bowl gouges and it’s about 60 deg. Not good or bad or the best angle, just what I happen to be using. If the shaft hits the rim while trying to get a good sweep across the bottom of a bowl, no problem, I go to the grinder, loosen the jig-leg, drop the nose down the wheel a bit, tighten, resharpen and back to turning. Easy.

Going to the shop tomorrow, we have a vari-grind 2 so I’ll give it a look. I think what you are calling the height adjustment would be the same as the jig-leg on the original vari-grind. Let me know what you find out on your experiments angle wise, and your opinion of the Vari-grind 2

cc

Re: Vari-grind

John K Jordan

>>>...and your opinion of the Vari-grind 2

Butting in with my 2 cents - I've had the Vari-grind for a bunch of years then bought the Vari-grind 2 when it came out. While the design seemed like a good idea, I dislike the Vari-grind 2 mostly because it forces the cut in the center of the wheel. I prefer to spread out the wear over the entire width of the wheel instead of just the center. With a stone wheel it would just mean dressing more often and earlier wheel diameter reduction. With the CBN I don't know.

Some people say they like it since it prevents accidentally letting the gouge slip off the side of the grinding wheel. I don't quite understand since I have never had this happen with the original Vari-grind.

My Vari-grind 2 hangs on the wall. I only keep it so visitors can try it to see if they like it.

JKJ

Re: Vari-grind

Bill Blasic

John although the Vari-Grind II was a good idea it was just too loose where the Sharp Fast Sharpening System is a much more solid system. Yes they are made to stay in the center of the wheel but they are fantastic for teaching and not having to worry about a student running off the side of the wheel and getting in big trouble. I've seen two wheels ruined, one by the tool running off the side and the other by hitting the wheel with the vari-grind attachment. When they happen they happen very fast, thankfully no one was hurt.

Re: Vari-grind

Karl_TN

Cliff,

Don's 'discontinued' jig with the height adjustment make sense when you're traveling around to other shops. This might be a good reason to keep the Vari-grind 2 around for the height adjustment at other shops.

I'm a relatively new turner so take the rest of this for what it's worth. My experience with other jigs is very limited. I did not buy the Vari-grind 2 because I thought the design was best, but because it was cheap on eBay.

As far as wear, I mostly do touch ups so my Vari-grind 2 doesn't wear out the center of my grinding wheels as much as some people say. If I were changing profiles a lot then wear might become an issue.

The 'tool holder' part of Vari-grind 2 can be removed from the base. I need to test if the tool holder can be used with a basket like the original Vari-grind. If so then maybe Vari-grind 2 provides the best of both worlds.

Last but not least, I'm told that a catch on a grinder could cause stone wheels to explode into pieces of shrapnel. Yikes!!! Not something that I'd want to happen with my kids or visitors around. I would say the Vari-Grind 2 does seem to be a much safer in this respect.

Now for a question: The white wheels that came with my grinder run smoothly, but my gouges still seem to bounce around a little when sharpening. I got the impression from Don's website that my 'T' style diamond wheel dresser can't solve this problem. Am I better off buying a 'diamond point' wheel dresser (like the Wovlerine or Don's) with better wheels, or buying CBN wheels which can't explode or need dressing?

Re: Vari-grind

Karl_TN

Bill, you got me thinking. The Vari-grind 2 base does have a very small amount of movement in the u opening at the top of the base, but I'm unsure if this is causes any problems. Nonetheless, it wouldn't cost much to add small piece of plastic tubing (i.e ice maker plastic water line split lengthwise) around the U opening to tighten it up.

Thanks for the remind about catches.

Re: Vari-grind

Clifton C

Well, I'm not trying to spend your money, but I love my CBN's ...

However, there is nothing wrong with a well dressed wheel. If the tools bounce, even a little, it makes sharpening just a little bit harder. I bought the O/W diamond dresser and even though built as all oneway products are, it just never performed like I thought it should. I bought one of the original Don G's diamond dresser, (gray, no markings) and, it works amazingly well. The T dresser will work, it just needs a light touch. As you can imagine, the tool is bouncing off high spots on the out of round wheel, a light touch with the dresser will remove the high spots, too much pressure and the dresser will just follow the contour of the wheel, and the bounce will get worse. All that being said, if you do buy a CBN, you wouldn't have to buy the diamond point dresser. Decisions decisions...

Re: Vari-grind

Mike Brazeau

I have a T dresser and it never solved the bounce problem for me. I have a Delta slow speed with wheels as supplied and use the white wheel for gouges. Bought the Oneway single diamond dresser and it did the trick. I have enough of my wheels left to keep me turning for quite a few years so resisting the CBN wheels. Also have the Oneway balancing set but could not install when I tried it as I need additional machined washers for clearance and never get to calling Oneway. Live just over an hour from their plant in Stratford, so may make the trek one day. Good Mennonite pork shop on the way.

Grinding wheel dressing tools

John K Jordan

I've used several on my grinders. I don't like the cheap T dressers I've had - the thin coating of diamonds came off quickly. Far better was a multi-diamond dressing tool that has diamonds embedded in maybe a 3/4" rectangle 1/2" x 1/4" wide. I've used it a long time on the grinding wheels in my little weld shop without wearing it away significantly.

Better still is the single-point dresser. I haven't used the OneWay tool but for years I used a single-point tool very similar to the Geiger tool:

https://www.amazon.com/GEIGER-Geiger-Wheel-Dresser-Model/dp/B0006555F4

It may even be an earlier version of the Geiger or one similar, can't remember. The body has angles machined that ride against the front of a tool rest, holding the diamond at an angle.

Thing is, the single-point diamond guts of that tool is very inexpensive. You can find many on Amazon, for example, for $5-$10. It would be easy to make a holder from a piece of scrap wood to fit a specific tool rest.

I did have trouble with one particular Norton grind wheel that I could not get to run true. I installed the OneWay balancer and it was amazing. Evidently some grinding wheels are not perfectly homogeneous and can be a little heavier on one side. No amount of dressing can make them perfect but the balancer took care of it for me.

That said, I did switch to CBN wheels for my lathe tools. Far better! I still have grinders with stone wheels I use for mild steel since the non-hardened steels apparently can cause problems with CBN. My OneWay balancer is on the shelf.

JKJ