Sando non-spinning rotary platen

[Sando]

tmickley asked about this so here goes:

Good ol' Rob built the famous Rotary platen. Well loved by the professionals. Well I got to thinkin'...

What is that thing? It's a platen with give.
Why does it spin? To have friction on bearings rather than the platen.

Can I make one? Nope.

But I thought some more, regular platens don't spin. So, why not.....

Here's the materials:

Sheet metal 2" wide hooked on the end to stay put.
Mouse pad 2" wide (softer the pad the more the 'give')
Pressure tape to hold the pad on
Graphite belting to relieve the friction.

And there you have it: The Sando non-spinning rotary platen.

I've only used it for sharpening and some handle work. Gonna try a blade soon.

Here's a pic:



Steve

PS I don't care if you do think I'm crazy - I'm enjoying myself.

[John Andrews]

Hey,that's pretty darn slick,Steve! Excellent photo,too.Let us know how it works out for serious grinding,will you? I just might build one for my single speed Wilton.

[MeDoctor]

Steve,

Can you think of any reason padding the "platten" (it's a bit of a reach to call that little piece of 1/8" or 3/32" steel with a 90 degree bend in it a platten, really) on my cheap 1x30 grinder wouldn't work?

Shalom,
Mark

[rlinger]

That oughta knock down a lot of chatter. Tell us though if you can do flat grinding or if it concaves the bevel.

Steve: Resident Wisard of BF.

RL

[tmickley]

Pretty clever Steve. When do you start marketing?

[Laredo7mm]

Pretty cool, hope it works well for you. But I got confused by the name; how do you have a non spinning rotary platen? Must just be the engineer in me.

[Greg Covington]

Good idea...I have Rob's rotary platen and I love it dearly....although I ave had to change my grinding process to accomodate using it.

Before that I did something similar like you have here....but I glued a heavy piece of leather to part of my pyroceram platen and it reduced chatter and allowed me to do a slight convex

[ddavelarsen]

Roger got you named just right!

[J. Neilson]

Cool, I'd like to hear how the blade comes out.

[Sando]

Laredo7mm,

>> how do you have a non spinning rotary platen?

Actually that was supposed to be a joke. Emphasizing the cheap nature of the whole thing.

XRAYED,

I really, really want one of those real rotaries. But just can't justify it at this point.

This mouse pad thing is a dream for handle work, and sharpening with a slight convex.

Convex blade grinds? I just don't know yet, but I'll try to find out soon.

MeDoctor,

That raises a big question I have with Frink's real rotary platen:

* The curve is going to vary depending on the amount of pressure. I wonder if varing pressure changes the grinding or if it's enough to make a difference. Many some of the Frink owners can chime in.


The mouse pad I used is pretty stiff, so it takes a fair amount of pressure if you want convex. So, your thin platen might not hold up to the pressure. But, with 'weaker' foam...?

Steve

[MeDoctor]

Originally posted by Sando
The mouse pad I used is pretty stiff, so it takes a fair amount of pressure if you want convex. So, your thin platen might not hold up to the pressure. But, with 'weaker' foam...?

Steve

When the shop (my garage, that is) warms up some I'll play with some different materials. In a cold garage even a "soft" foam gets rather firm. Besides, right now I'm having WAY too much fun playing with my new EdgePro.

Thanks for the reply -- I hadn't really considered yet the notion of trying different materials with varying amounts of "give".

Shalom,
Mark