GRS EasyGraver Sharpening Fixture Review?

[ken dixon]

Hi,
I'm not wanting to start any tool controversies here I just have a simple question about the sharpening fixture.

Since this tool has been out several months now I am sure several engravers have purchased them.

The question is do you find it to be a worthwhile tool or is it on the shelf collecting dust?

Thanks for any input. Ken

 

[FANCYGUN]

Ken
I have been using one for a month now. I do like it. I find it very fast and more accurate/consistant than my other adjustable fixtures. Drawback is that it is set for one specific type of grind. This just happens to be the one i use anyhow so I feel like there is no handicap for me. I am using the 105 and wish they made a 90. The one suggstion I gave GRS is drill a hole in the handle so you can hang it on a peg board hook rather than let it lay on the bench with all my other "junk"

 

[fegarex]

I've been using mine all the time. I have the 105 but as Marty, it is my favorite grind. I can use the dual angle sharpener blindfolded but still grab the new fixture. Really proves great on carbide gravers that you put some muscle too. Marty mentioned a 90 degree fixture...
With the 105 fixture you can use this to make 90 degree "standard" heel gravers. I find on the 90s that this works just fine anyhow.
Rex

 

[Beathard]

I use it everyday for 105s. I also use the 105 to help with 90s as Rex mentioned. I am probably going to purchase the 120 soon.

I don't use it because I don't know how to sharpen. I use it because its fast. Time spent sharpening does not show up on the piece. Only engraving shows.

I use it to maximize engraving time.

 

[sam]

EasyGraver is available in two flavors, either 105° or 120°. While it doesn't make a graver you can't make with a Dual Angle fixture, it does sharpen them very quickly and with a high degree of accuracy.

If your go-to graver is a 105° or 120° parallel heel, then you might love this fixture. Remember that it is non-adjustable and only sharpens ONE geometry (either 105° or 120°).

EasyGraver is designed to be used with gravers mounted in GRS QuickChange (QC) holders, and works best with the double setscrew QC holders as opposed the old single setscrew types.

Once a graver is mounted in a QC holder and sharpened with EasyGraver, that graver should stay in that QC holder for the rest of its life as slight sharpening variations may occur if it's removed and remounted in the same or different QC holder.

If you don't use GRS QC graver holders, then EasyGraver is not the best sharpening solution for you.

There was some discussion in a previous thread about reducing the top of the graver, and there's a relatively simple solution for that in the EasyGraver Instructions which you can download from GRS.

I have both the 105 and 120 versions and am doing 100% of my engraving with those two geometries. My old square gravers have been replaced with 105s and I honestly don't notice a difference other than they last longer.

The nearly parallel heel of this geometry also makes a super graver for flare cutting.

 

[sam]

Here's another example of flare cutting. It's not much different from the previous photo, but it's in steel. Cut with an EG 120° graver which produces clean exits at the end of the cuts.

 

[Fred Bowen]

I use the 120° mostly and this fixture is a real timesaver. And as Marty & Rex also mentioned it gives consistent results. I just ordered the 105° and expect that I will get the same benefits.

 

[sam]

Here's a pic of the top of my EG105° per the instructions in PDF in a previous post. The graver is made from .070" carbide round stock.

 

[Willem Parel]

How does it go with resharping Sam with a round stock, is it possible to put the graver in the same position as before ???

 

[mrthe]

Willem if i'm not wrong this fixture work only with the qc holder in this way you can resharp without problem i think

 

[sam]

Yes, the notch in the QC holder assures exact alignment. The graver itself is not clamped like in the Dual Angle fixture.

 

[Titian]

 

[ken dixon]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to share your experiences, it was helpful.

Ken

 

[jamiefeinstein]

I just picked up a set of Easy gravers on here..... How is it that the 105 is wider than the 120? meaning the fixtures seem like they are reversed for the stated angle? the 120 is closer to a 90 point than the 105....
jamie.

 

[AllenClapp]

Not sure what you are talking about. At left is the table from the current EasyGraver instructions. It shows that the 105 degree version creates a parallel heel at about 90 degrees. By way of explanation, the face angle and heel lift angle determine how much farther you need to rotate the graver to create a parallel heel up the sides of the graver, as opposed to the traditonal triangular heel only at the tip that you get if you use the same rotation angle for the heel as you did for the initial shaping. A 105 with parallel heel has about the same strength as a 80 with a traditional heel, which is one of the reasons why so many engravers are going to using the 120 with a parallel heel when cutting on harder metals. The wider angle makes a stronger point.

 

[jamiefeinstein]

Gotcha! But the 105 has a wider angle (both initial shaping and heel) than the 120....

 

[DaveAtWeirs]

I had a look at the 120 and 90 set we have in work and it's the same, the 90 is noticeably wider than the 120. I imagine it's to do with the combination of how the marks are both flipped 180 from the cutting faces and adjusted at an angle so they're not parallel to the shank of the graver. I never really got the hand of the grs system cuz even though we have the whole kit I always fall back to using the Lindsay templates cuz they're really quick to set up sharpen with when you're in the middle of a job

 

[DaveAtWeirs]

ok, had a think about it and figured it.
Its the amount of material that has to be removed from a flat when you consider the graver is an upside down triangle.
If we start with a straight line being an angle of 180 degrees.
For a 90 degree you need to remove 45 degrees from each side.
For a 120 degree you only need to remove 30 degrees from each side.
A wider graver needs less material removed so you rotate it less.

please enjoy my beautiful artwork:

 

[AllenClapp]

Gotcha! But the 105 has a wider angle (both initial shaping and heel) than the 120....

Do you have a set that was mismarked at the factory? Is that what you are saying? If so, I am sure that GRS would replace it with a correctly marked set. Otherwise, I don't understand this discussion.

 

[jamiefeinstein]

They are all "Missmarked," you can look on the website and from the forum of ppl selling these. the 105 fixture has a wider angle compared to the 120....