So Where's the Review?

I'm working on it. I want to be fair to the machine, and to my (lack of) skill with it. So far the only issue I'm really having is wobbly belts BUT it's just as likely that it's the inexpensive belts that I'm using, as it is that there's an issue with the grinder. I did adjust the torque on the bolts that hold the guide wheel and the contact wheels- that helped a bunch. I have about a dozen 3M Gator belts on the way, too, so I'll get a chance to see how precision belts behave.

However, I have written my version of the assembly instructions, and Wayne liked them so much he included them with a grinder he sent out yesterday.  Take a look:

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Sc28VPKRdCENfvvmFEhsfciTIpUiJ3j7AfSqPqtwJ0c

[EDIT- the previous embedding didn't work very well. Try the link instead.]

Grinder Build... Almost There.

I'm going to make this quick since it's 2AM. The grinder frame arrived today and I spent 5 hours assembling it (I took a lot of notes and pictures because I may be rewriting the assembly instructions).  There were a couple of snags, but right now the main issue is that the belt insists on tracking about 1/4" of its width into the motor--- regardless of what I try to move it won't stop. Everything appears to be aligned and squared, so I'm at a loss (and it's been a loooong day). I'm using a 600 grit belt at about 10% speed (roughly 170RPM) so it's not like it's ruining the equipment, but it's damned annoying and it's not even lining up with the contact wheels or platen, to boot so I can't really use it as intended. I'm sure I misread an instruction or something, so I emailed Wayne Coe for assistance/clarification. Fingers are crossed that it's a simple fix.  By the way, this thing is gorgeous and I can't wait to do some work with it.

I'm not dragging my feet on this...

I just got my UPS shipping confirmation this morning that my grinder frame has shipped. It should be here on the 27th, then I expect a few evenings after work for the build proper, and then on to testing.


In the mean time I was moderately successful in not screwing up a dagger when I put it on my current 1x42. After that it was back to draw filing, and a combination of block sanding and my "sandpaper plane" that I made several years ago. When my wife saw my using it she said, "that's my favorite tool that you've made." That was pretty cool.

Real Deal

Well that didn't work very well. Even after jumping through some hoops and emailing the photo from flickr to the blog, it didn't work-- the image didn't post.  So here it is from my flickr stream. . . oh wait! That didn't work either, blogger wouldn't accept the URL that Flickr gave me.  This is from the computer... grrrrrr...