Project Information
Thanks to rmac for the design!
I needed a new rest for my Grinder for sharpening lawn mower blades. The problem with stock tool rest, other than the obvious pitfalls, is that it wouldn't tip "into" the wheel. In order to grind the 30° angle on the blade you have two options: 1) keep the rest level and fine tune it's height to until you get the 30° angle or 2) tipping the table into the wheel.
Using method 1 is problematic due to the guard that surrounds the grinding wheel. You could remove / modify the guard but I didn't want to go through all of that. And raising and lowing the grinder wheel isn't practical so you'd have to come up with some method of raising and lower the too rest.
Using method 2 isn't without it's own share of problems, gravity is a B!{@() and will try to pull the blade under the wheel. Caution has to be used with this method.
So on to the build…
I built mine from the scrap bucket. I actually built two. The first was to rmac's specs but it ended up being too low once I tipped it into the wheel. So I scaled it up a notch. The 4th picture is a comparison of rmac's design next to mine. I think the rest maybe a too wide. Time will tell but I think a new rest maybe in it's future.
My tool rest is about 8" from the table top. This gives me lots of room to tip the rest into the wheel and miss the guard around the wheel. I'm not going to share pictures of the rest actually in front of the grinder. My garage is a total mess! Put 200 bf of walnut in there with the truck and the ZTR and watch the chaos ensue!
I didn't have all of the correct hardware on hand. The rest is designed to be mounted with 1/4×20 button head machine screws. I didn't have any so I just used a couple of flat head stove bolts. I'll pick up a couple at the local hardware store later today.
Because my pivots aren't permanently attached to the tool rest, I added a 3/8" dowel that keeps the left and right pivots in the same orientation. See pic. 2
Thanks rmac for the design!
I needed a new rest for my Grinder for sharpening lawn mower blades. The problem with stock tool rest, other than the obvious pitfalls, is that it wouldn't tip "into" the wheel. In order to grind the 30° angle on the blade you have two options: 1) keep the rest level and fine tune it's height to until you get the 30° angle or 2) tipping the table into the wheel.
Using method 1 is problematic due to the guard that surrounds the grinding wheel. You could remove / modify the guard but I didn't want to go through all of that. And raising and lowing the grinder wheel isn't practical so you'd have to come up with some method of raising and lower the too rest.
Using method 2 isn't without it's own share of problems, gravity is a B!{@() and will try to pull the blade under the wheel. Caution has to be used with this method.
So on to the build…
I built mine from the scrap bucket. I actually built two. The first was to rmac's specs but it ended up being too low once I tipped it into the wheel. So I scaled it up a notch. The 4th picture is a comparison of rmac's design next to mine. I think the rest maybe a too wide. Time will tell but I think a new rest maybe in it's future.
My tool rest is about 8" from the table top. This gives me lots of room to tip the rest into the wheel and miss the guard around the wheel. I'm not going to share pictures of the rest actually in front of the grinder. My garage is a total mess! Put 200 bf of walnut in there with the truck and the ZTR and watch the chaos ensue!
I didn't have all of the correct hardware on hand. The rest is designed to be mounted with 1/4×20 button head machine screws. I didn't have any so I just used a couple of flat head stove bolts. I'll pick up a couple at the local hardware store later today.
Because my pivots aren't permanently attached to the tool rest, I added a 3/8" dowel that keeps the left and right pivots in the same orientation. See pic. 2
Thanks rmac for the design!