Upgrade my current hone or go for GRS?

[Fetzi_DLL]

Hey folks,
I mostly use these cheap diamond disks, but they are worn so fast that I'd like to go for these ~100€ diamond wheels from GRS or others. Since the cheap ones cost about 8-10€ each and I think that's just a waste of material.

And as you see the hone has these dots on the plastic so I cannot place my dual angle system flat on it. I may can flatten them out. But even then there is not really enough space for the dual angle system.

So I am thinking to go full yolo an buy the 1300€ sharpening thing. Just wanted to ask if you have any ideas how to upgrade it OR if that thing can take the diamond wheel from GRS and use it with it?

Anybody has experiences with this thing or knows a good alternative?

Shopping only in European shops.

 

[silverchip]

It looks like it ought to be easy enough to add a flat surface to the platform on the current hone enough for the da fixture. As for the laps,I would not go to the expense of purchasing the expensive ones.

 

[Ryan138]

I would just set your sharpening jig on a stack of hard books or a block of wood around the same height next to the hone. Also you want to find some diamond flat lap disc.

 

[Ryan138]

If possible maybe change your housing unit to something a bit bigger. This shell cost me $20 on Amazon

 

[AllenClapp]

Your basic question seems to be whether buying a GRS Graverhone is worth the money, versus using a home-built wheel system. For me it was, and I am not making my living with engraving. I actually had an earlier version and upgraded to the current version for the extra features. First, it is very easy to change wheels with different grits; no time is wasted playing with bolts--the wheels are lifted off and replaced easily by hand. Second, you can reverse the direction, which helps in two ways: the wheels last essentially twice as long (a great savings over time) and it is nice to be able to change the direction when shaping some gravers. Third, the Graverhone has a wide range of speeds that is useful for both initial shaping and touchups. The relatively new 180 Gator Wheel is a great timesaver. Fourth, the box is shaped to fit the need--it is large enough to support the large variety of available sharpening fixtures without taking up extra space on my table: space is always at a premium and only gets worse as you acquire more tools. So it all comes down to time, space, and money. Even if you aren't in the business of engraving, extra time spent sharpening is time you could be engraving. If you have limited time to engrave, lost time spent sharpening becomes more important. If you have limited tabletop space, the size of your sharpening system becomes more important. Likewise, with the money issue, you have to decide it using more money on the sharpening system is better than saving part of it for some other tool.

 

[AllenClapp]

My first response to your question dealt with the honing system itself. I thought that it might be useful to add some comments about the sharpening fixtures that are available. I started engraving in the 1990s using an earlier GraverHone and a sharpening fixture that held square graver stock only. I upgraded to one of the first Dual Angle fixtures that made it really easy to shape and sharpen both regularly used gravers and some of the more oddball ones used for Bulino work and other uses. That system didn't work with the QuickChange graver holders; you could stick a square graver through and work it if it was still long enough, so I got by. Then adapters were made to allow the use of QuickChange holders, so I became a very happy camper. These fixtures produce a traditional triangular heel on gravers. The new Apex Sharpening Fixtures give ultimate flexibility. First, like the Dual Angle fixtures, you can get any combination of side shape angles and heel angles using the included Black wheel with visual degree markings. To make life easy on producing standard 90, 105, and 120 degree gravers, dedicated color-coded wheels are marked for side angles and heel angles. One big difference is that these heel markings are offset just enough that they produce almost perfect parallel heels all the way up the sides of the graver, which can be very useful when making deeper cuts, because you can have a full cutting edge on each side without having to have a long heel. I now use almost all of my gravers in QuickChange holders, so I mostly use the new Apex system, but I kept my old Dual Angle fixture for sharpening long square stock gravers I sometimes use in hand pushing. I will probably let it go whenever I use up all my long stock. The EasyGravers, which are NOT adjustable, make shaping and touching up 105 degree or 120 degree gravers held in QuickChange holders very quick. They have holes drilled at appropriate angles for the face, side shape, and parallel heels. They are expensive, but save the time of adjusting the angles on one of the adjustable sharpening systems. They also take less time in sharpening because you are always coming back to the same angle; with any adjustable system, your eyes come into play trying to align marks on wheels and sometimes you get off slightly. If money is very tight, then starting with one of the older systems that allow adjustable angles without the later niceties is a good place to start--especially if you can catch one of us selling our older unit when we upgrade. You can always add upgrades later to add convenience.

 

[Fetzi_DLL]

I thought if it's good to go for GRS, I can may tr if the GRS diamond wheels will fit on my current cheap hone.

It fits, but when looking at the 150€ GRS wheel and the 8€ cheap disk it feels to me that he GRS is just one of these disks glued on a steel wheel. Am I incorrect? Is the GRS Stone thicker or is it also just a thin layer of diamond particles? If no, I can buy the GRS wheels and maybe later upgrade my complete hone.

 

[monk]

even the low priced diamond disks shoulld give reasonable service life. is the rpm too fast ? do you exert too much down pressure ? do you use lube, or do you run dry / the plastic "disks", can they be chisseled off ? the grs hones and diamond disks are a good investment. i think ( guess) that you problem may arise from the technique you may be using.

 

[PS_Bond]

Another option on having your fixture supported might be a lab lift? A little more high-tech/positionable/completely overkill than a stack of books. I use one in the laser.
E.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stainless-Steel-Stand-Table-Laboratory/dp/B07SKPMHDH/

As for thick/thin discs, a master lap with a thin disc is more rigid than a thin disc on its own.

 

[Doctorslava]

This particular lab jack is flimsy. I use it a lot in lab experiments but if you want rigidity you should go with optical jack. the only disadvantage is the high price.

 

[Sinterklaas]

Buy a sheet of steel that you can place on top of the hone. Make it the size you need. Then your magnetic feet for the dual angle fixture will also stick.

I also have the cheap diamond wheels, I got them from aliexpr. I dont use them often but they still look good. The finer ones tend to clog a bit. This is because the material you grind off will get lodged between the diamond particles on the lap. This will make your lap a finer grit than it actually is. If you clean it then you get the original grit back.

Grind slow and maybe use some oil. I grind slow and dry, I also use suction so I dont breath the metal dust that is harmfull.

 

[Addertooth]

All of you are so far ahead of me. I still use a drill press, with a custom made mandrel to hold the spinning disk. Some day, my engraving may be worthy of a better sharpening fixture.

Originally, I was using a cut-down half inch bolt in the chuck to hold the disk, but it had too much wobble. I ended up machining 3 mandrels to hold my 3 different grits of diamond disks. The picture shows the original and the upgraded part I made.