Check out this wack robotic knife sharpener!

ecdc said:
I have one at my local ACE Hardware, too. I was curious so I brought a couple Henkels Pro S kitchen knives and let the machine have a go. It's quick. But it does a nice job. Even grind, and quite sharp. Apparently the machine was designed by a former Tesla engineer, I was told.
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what i read inventor is a Russian immigrant fella. not sure what he did other than appliance and hvac business and some other startups idears.....

not sure about the partner fella. maybe he came from tesla.....?
 
We have some crappy kitchen knives.
I’ll definitely try this if my ACE gets one.

Doesn’t Spyderco have some sort of sharpening robot?
 
BD_01 said:
We have some crappy kitchen knives.
I’ll definitely try this if my ACE gets one.

Doesn’t Spyderco have some sort of sharpening robot?
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Yea, but they're not like this. They pick up the unsharpened blade and take it to a grind stone. Much like the multi-axis robots that are used in car plants, I'm sure there is a lot of programming and tweaks going on from time to time. They probably have a PLC tech on staff.
 
soc_monki said:
Yea, but they're not like this. They pick up the unsharpened blade and take it to a grind stone. Much like the multi-axis robots that are used in car plants, I'm sure there is a lot of programming and tweaks going on from time to time. They probably have a PLC tech on staff.
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That's really a good point. I was thinking when reading above that "robotic" sharpening is something I had seen before, somewhere on a internet video. But that was totally different; as you indicated, they take a shaped blank, put it in a holder, then grind the pattern.

That machine reads the pattern, dimensions, and determines when it is sharp. I am more impressed...

Good to have another post where someone has tried the same machine in a different location. I have no doubt that there will be a lot of good that will come from it. Better still, for all of us that are tasked on occasion for a free sharpening, it's a winner.
 
Great video, THANKS !!

Lots of comments here already, but appears few saw what I saw. I only watched this through 1x, pausing to make a few notes then a second time to confirm before posting.

1:12 After 1st pass recurve just forward of plunge grind starts to develop (like how they do with many inexperienced sharpeners). 2nd pass recurve is enhanced further.
1:30 Recurve continues to develop.
1:47 After "Inspection" machine continues with couple more passes further enhancing the recurve.
2:00 After another "Inspection" machine determines it is time to "Finish" and it continues to finish/enhance the recurve.
2:14 Recurve visually is even more pronounced.
2:45 Appears the blade edge will no longer make contact with a flat surface in the area of the recurve. Not what I'd want on a Chef's Knife :-/

On my 2nd viewing I paused at the 0:05 mark to confirm recurve was not present until the first pass of the machine, then made a few screen captures to post below illustrating comments above.

Please feel free to explain how the camera angle, lighting, etc. is creating condition that I see and have referenced above ...
I would also expect to see some issues related to the tip (either not fully apexed or rounded to some degree).
Additionally, the profile of the grinding wheels would produce hollow ground secondary bevels :-/

AutoSharpener at 0:05 Before any grinding: (no discernable recurve that I can see in video until 1st pass of grinder)
AutoSharpener Before.JPG

AutoSharpener at 2:14 into process:
AutoSharpener After 2-15.jpg

AutoSharpener at 2:44 "Finished":
AutoSharpener After 2-44.jpg


EDIT: I just went back through this thread and noticed that 3D Anvil made mention of similar in Post#26 that I missed on first read through.

EDIT-2: Before v After
Images from OP Posts #9 Before & #61 After
ReSharp Before v After-1080Wide.jpg
 
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I wouldn't put my worst not a friend's knife in that thing, let alone a friend's or mine.
Looks like an upsized electric knife "sharpener" that was part of granny's electric can opener in '59 or '60~'61.
Two or three "sharpenings" would reduce a kitchen cleaver to a toothpick. 😳☹️
The angles look a bit obtuse, as well ... 45° per side/90° inclusive edge?
 
afishhunter said:
I wouldn't put my worst not a friend's knife in that thing, let alone a friend's or mine.
Looks like an upsized electric knife "sharpener" that was part of granny's electric can opener in '59 or '60~'61.
Two or three "sharpenings" would reduce a kitchen cleaver to a toothpick. 😳☹️
The angles look a bit obtuse, as well ... 45° per side/90° inclusive edge?
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I've tried it. On two pretty decent kitchen knives. It's more than adequate. You don't need perfection. This is more than good enough to sharpen well enough to cut steaks, onions, celery, etc.
 
Someone must have a Gerber/Sog/CS they could throw in there. If my Ace has one, I'll toss my Strongarm in there and film it.
 
Spey said:
Great video, THANKS !!

Lots of comments here already, but appears few saw what I saw. I only watched this through 1x, pausing to make a few notes then a second time to confirm before posting.

1:12 After 1st pass recurve just forward of plunge grind starts to develop (like how they do with many inexperienced sharpeners). 2nd pass recurve is enhanced further.
1:30 Recurve continues to develop.
1:47 After "Inspection" machine continues with couple more passes further enhancing the recurve.
2:00 After another "Inspection" machine determines it is time to "Finish" and it continues to finish/enhance the recurve.
2:14 Recurve visually is even more pronounced.
2:45 Appears the blade edge will no longer make contact with a flat surface in the area of the recurve. Not what I'd want on a Chef's Knife :-/

On my 2nd viewing I paused at the 0:05 mark to confirm recurve was not present until the first pass of the machine, then made a few screen captures to post below illustrating comments above.

Please feel free to explain how the camera angle, lighting, etc. is creating condition that I see and have referenced above ...
I would also expect to see some issues related to the tip (either not fully apexed or rounded to some degree).
Additionally, the profile of the grinding wheels would produce hollow ground secondary bevels :-/

AutoSharpener at 0:05 Before any grinding: (no discernable recurve that I can see in video until 1st pass of grinder)
View attachment 1863385

AutoSharpener at 2:14 into process:
View attachment 1863386

AutoSharpener at 2:44 "Finished":
View attachment 1863389


EDIT: I just went back through this thread and noticed that 3D Anvil made mention of similar in Post#26 that I missed on first read through.
Click to expand...
Yep, and we're right. ;)

It would take some work to fix that knife after the robotic sharpening. You'd have to reshape the last 1/3 of the edge at minimum.

I've often thought that it wouldn't take that much work to turn a fixed angle system (think KME, TSProf, etc.) into a partially automated system. Clamp the blade, set the start and end points, and the min/max stroke length, and then let the machine go to town. Use a four-sided stone holder with something like 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 diamond plates and let the machine switch grits.
 
Interesting, I bet it gets used often by your average knife user for $4. I won’t use it, but might tell my dad to go there instead of me spending hours sharpening kitchen knives he uses on a stone counter…
 
I just saw this on Reddit and had to come back and share this with you guys since a lot of people seem to be curious about it. This was not my post or photos. Credit goes to HennryHeavyLemmon on Reddit. But yea looks like it completely missed about a quarter of the edge on one side. Too bad too because, although it's a little wavy, it does seem to profile it at a pretty nice looking angle. If only it could be a bit more steady.

Edit: Looks like it took a little chunk out of the end of the finger choil too.

Edit: Wait, wait. Sorry guys. I posted this after only reading through about 50 of the 100 comments. The OP later shares that an employee took the knife from him to do it and he's not certain of how it was done. The employee may have used the machine or he may have taken it into the back and used something else. If it wasn't the machine, then possibly they have a belt sander back there. Either way doesn't look too pretty haha.

eWp9KRm.png


x124JGI.png
 
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LimpCroissant said:
I just saw this on Reddit and had to come back and share this with you guys since a lot of people seem to be curious about it. This was not my post or photos. Credit goes to HennryHeavyLemmon on Reddit. But yea looks like it completely missed about a quarter of the edge on one side. Too bad too because, although it's a little wavy, it does seem to profile it at a pretty nice looking angle. If only it could be a bit more steady.

Edit: Looks like it took a little chunk out of the end of the finger choil too.

eWp9KRm.png


x124JGI.png
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Oh my! That's horrible! Thanks for sharing that.
 
Railsplitter said:
Oh my! That's horrible! Thanks for sharing that.
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My apologies. I was only done reading through about 50 of the 100 responses when I posted this. The OP later shared that the employee took the knife into the back and that he thinks that they used some other source of powered machinery. Maybe they have a belt sander back there. So the employee may or may not have used their new machine.
 
LimpCroissant said:
My apologies. I was only done reading through about 50 of the 100 responses when I posted this. The OP later shared that the employee took the knife into the back and that he thinks that they used some other source of powered machinery. Maybe they have a belt sander back there. So the employee may or may not have used their new machine.
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Acknowledged.

I can see that happening. When I checked my local ACE yesterday they didn't have the Resharp machine but the associate did tell me that they sharpen knives.
 
I have a Work Sharp knife and tool sharpener, which works great on axes, mower blades, hard working yard or work edges, etc. Depending on the tang it will do exactly what is shown ⬆️.
 
I imagine it won’t be long before there are automatic sharpeners available. They could use a computer chip and you could input the edge angle and finish you desire and the machine will analyze the blade and sharpen it. The future is coming!
 
LimpCroissant said:
I just saw this on Reddit and had to come back and share this with you guys since a lot of people seem to be curious about it. This was not my post or photos. Credit goes to HennryHeavyLemmon on Reddit. But yea looks like it completely missed about a quarter of the edge on one side. Too bad too because, although it's a little wavy, it does seem to profile it at a pretty nice looking angle. If only it could be a bit more steady.

Edit: Looks like it took a little chunk out of the end of the finger choil too.

Edit: Wait, wait. Sorry guys. I posted this after only reading through about 50 of the 100 comments. The OP later shares that an employee took the knife from him to do it and he's not certain of how it was done. The employee may have used the machine or he may have taken it into the back and used something else. If it wasn't the machine, then possibly they have a belt sander back there. Either way doesn't look too pretty haha.

eWp9KRm.png


x124JGI.png
Click to expand...
Just assuming that he did it with the robot.... Based on the robot sharpening video (in the OP), I had the feeling the device (or, more likely, the person programming the device) had some sensors (piloting) difficulties. An automated device can just do as good as it is asked to do. A supermarket employee not understanding sharpening ? What a surprise !
 
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