Current model Edge Pro Apex users: can the base...

[RLDubbya]

Greetings, and thank you ever so much in advance for even reading this question.

I'm looking to purchase an EdgePro Apex system. I have a work table made of a sheet of tempered glass. I've found that to macro photos and not have any clamps visible, all I have to do is place a strong neodymium magnet underneath the table; depending on what I'm doing, I might glue it in place with cyanoacrylate gel.

In your use and observation, do you think that I can take two 80lb pull magnets which are small bars, glue them to the underside of my table, and then place the Apex base over those magnets? If this works, I don't have to choke and cry while I hand over hundreds of dollars for a vacuum cup base; I don't have to deal with a unit that is essentially free to move all over the table.

 

[jbarsquat]

I'm not sure what you're asking. Do you want the magnets to hold the edgepro in place?

 

[RLDubbya]

Durr. I do not have the brain cell today.

 

[RLDubbya]

I'm not sure what you're asking. Do you want the magnets to hold the edgepro in place?

Yes. Sorry for any lack of clarity. It looks like the EP Pro uses a vacuum to hold it down; the Apex just sits there. I'm suggesting a method to "clamp" the Apex to my work table using magnets.

 

[jbarsquat]

The apex comes with two suction cups at the "rear" of the base that hold it in place. The "front" legs have little rubber nubs to keep from sliding.

 

[cbwx34]

The EdgePro Apex has 2 suction cups on the back feet... holds rather well on any smooth surface. (Or mount it like this in a glass baking dish)...

... becomes very portable.

(Not a magnet expert... but I doubt you could hold the whole setup that way)

 

[RLDubbya]

The EdgePro Apex has 2 suction cups on the back feet... holds rather well on any smooth surface. (Or mount it like this in a glass baking dish)...

... becomes very portable.

(Not a magnet expert... but I doubt you could hold the whole setup that way)

Thank you. For clarity, then: if I have a way to anchor the Apex unit to a work surface, I have eliminated one difference between it and the Pro, correct?

Are there any other critical differences that make the Pro worth the money?

If I do this, I will report back. But: a neodymium magnet measuring 2"L x 1/2"T x 1/2"W pulls with 78lbs of force. Without hard shopping, I have a source selling them at 2 for $12. I'd bet that if I spent $30 and got 5 magnets, the unit would not move.

 

[Diemaker]

Doable in theory, not sure how you will attach the magnets, or magnetic things, to the Apex. I think the Apex is still made out of nylon so it is pretty hard to get any glue to really stick to it so you may have to get creative. Maybe magnets with countersunk holes so you can just screw them into the suction cup holes? You would have to space them out so the machine sat at the correct angle on the table. Other than that it is very doable for a few $$. A good place to get magnets is here.

You don't need magnets more than 1/8" thick for best value. If you want to supercharge them add a shield, .015" shim stock works well. If you sandwich the magnet between 2 pieces of steel then it will hold 2.7 times better than just a magnet sitting on a piece of steel.

 

[RLDubbya]

^^^Thank you. Good stuff to know.

It sounds like you think it's worthwhile to get the Apex held tightly in place? One thing I would note: miracles have been performed with duct tape & zip ties - I've yet to find anything completely immune to the power of this highest black magic.

Since I might have your ear: my goal is to get the Apex functionally close to the level of the Pro without dumping in a whole lot of cash. Do you think this is doable? Are there any other major differences I should direct my attention to? Hopefully I can make this work long enough to then save up and purchase a Pro unit.

 

[Wowbagger]

R.L.Dubbya,
You are a wonderfully polite sort of fella.
Still I have to sound off / comment :
Never make a work bench top out of glass (or plywood). Unless you enjoy shards and splinters and stuff. What is going to happen when you drop your Buck 110 on the glass ?
The suction cups work FINE. Use those. I have never wished they were any better.
The magnets are going to attract the iron in the swarf and just be a mess, an eye sore and just more stuff you don't need.

I will add that a GREAT surface that you can stick the suction cups to is 1/8 inch sheet neoprene or thicker. This stuff is like hard rubber not like a diving suit. SUPER durable surface. I use it every day as a top for my bench at work as a pro mechanic and after twenty years with the same sheet it looks fantastic considering. Can be had at an industrial bearing and hydraulic supply house by the yard off a roll.

I use it to protect the kitchen counter when I sharpen; with my Edge Pro OR my full size bench stones.
Shown in this vid

Even holds a Shapton 120 (very coarse stone) with no stone holder or clamp while the stone is very wet as long as you slide the stone across the mat as shown in the vid.
Can't do that with a glass surface.

A very light wipe with a damp rag makes the neoprene adhere with great ferocity to the counter and the stone adhere to the mat or suction cups will stick to it even better.
Neoprene on a permanent dedicated sharpening bench ? Just stick the suction cups to it and go to work. I have this stuff on my home mechanics bench and use it to protect my woodworking bench where ever I need to temporarily pile some tools.


Glass ? ? ? seriously ? ? ?

 

[Diemaker]

To be honest I have never used the Pro but I am quite familiar with it. I don't think the Pro holds the stone angle to the blade any better than the Apex and if the Apex suction cups do come loose and the unit moves around a little it doesn't affect the angle of the stone to the blade, which is pretty much all that matters. I think the suction cups work fine on a smooth surface. The Pro has a few nice features and is a little bigger but the basics are the same, IMO. I would say just get an Apex and use the suction cups on your plate glass table, they should work really well on that surface and put any extra money in stones and polishing tools If you get the scissor sharpener attachment it is the exact same one as used on the Pro, it is the knife sharpener side mounting blocks that are different. This is something I use quite a lot. It is nice to sharpen your scissors to the same level of quality as your knives, polished edges and all.

 

[Wowbagger]

To be honest I have never used the Pro but I am quite familiar with it. I don't think the Pro holds the stone angle to the blade any better than the Apex and if the Apex suction cups do come loose and the unit moves around a little it doesn't affect the angle of the stone to the blade, which is pretty much all that matters. I think the suction cups work fine on a smooth surface. The Pro has a few nice features and is a little bigger but the basics are the same, IMO. I would say just get an Apex and use the suction cups on your plate glass table, they should work really well on that surface and put any extra money in stones and polishing tools If you get the scissor sharpener attachment it is the exact same one as used on the Pro, it is the knife sharpener side mounting blocks that are different. This is something I use quite a lot. It is nice to sharpen your scissors to the same level of quality as your knives, polished edges and all.

Side comment I have never considered sharpening scissors to a polish. Does this work in use ?
I have always taken it for granted that a bit of tooth is wisest for scissors so they can get a grip on the material being sheared.
Hmmmmm

 

[Wowbagger]

I'm looking to purchase an EdgePro Apex system.
Current model

Do you mean perhaps the Fixed angle model ? Or the Pro model ?

I wouldn’t even bank on that metal suction base being magnetic. It may be some kind of cast metal that is non magnetic. For example the cast metal handles of Stanley box knives are non magnetic.

 

[Diemaker]

The Pro vac base is aluminum, I just checked the one I have. The only steel in either the Pro or Apex is stainless so nothing is magnetic on either of them.

 

[Wowbagger]

Are there any other critical differences that make the Pro worth the money?

I have never used the Pro only the Apex.
I thought I would regret buying the Apex because it seemed I could sharpen lower angles on the Pro.
I am a low angle freak.
In practice I have found I can sharpen very low angles just fine using the Apex .

 

[RLDubbya]

R.L.Dubbya,
You are a wonderfully polite sort of fella.
Still I have to sound off / comment :
Never make a work bench top out of glass (or plywood). Unless you enjoy shards and splinters and stuff. What is going to happen when you drop your Buck 110 on the glass ?
Glass ? ? ? seriously ? ? ?

I would never own any Buck; ipso facto, no problem.

Yes, glass. I have a frosted. tempered glass desk I have been using since 1998. It's been fine. Maybe it's all luck, but in all likelihood, I only need another 6 months of use from the desk. Then I will be dead, and you can come over and drop your Buck 110 on it, and see what happens. Deal? That desk is where I write, do light work on knives and other mechanical type things, make paracord stuff, and I have one portion of it set up with continuous, variable temperature lighting from above and below for my macro and other product photography. I have two 27" 4k monitors on the desk; that's about it. If I need to anchor the Edge Pro (and I mean the Apex Unit, and whatever the current Apex Unit is), it will go on this desk. Not knowing how much it weighs, etc., I'm prepared to hang the monitors from a beam in my ceiling to offload.

I also have a large felt covered rubber mat on the desk where I do any work, so that most things that get dropped hit that and it wonderfully absorbs and dissipates the kinetic energy associated with such an event. But there have been any number of objects dropped on this glass since 1998, and there are no cracks, chips, etc. To be fair, maybe there's something magic about it other than being tempered and frosted. I do not know. I do know the desk was pricey in '98, but when I purchased it, I asked about such things, and was told not to worry.

The WorkSharp sits atop a piece of 2" granite, coated with Dynamat, which sits atop a 6" block of maple, which sits atop a wooden credenza. This is where heavier work and striking work gets done. The very heaviest striking work (using a 7lb deadblow and impact wrench, for example) gets done in the garage shop, where I don't have any glass.

I'll make you a deal, Mr. Bagger (I assume you prefer formality and respect instead of the somewhat presumptuous "Hey Wow"). I will report to you any breakage to this desk; I'll be a man, and 'fess the eff up, and admit the error of my ways as surely as the morning sun through yon window comes. For each breakage, you get to publicly humiliate me, and I can only reply "Yes sir, Mr. Bagger, sir. Yes sir." In exchange for this, you will donate $100 for each breakage to my cancer fundraising drive.

Should be a no-brainer for such a distinguished thinker, gentle person, and purveyor of sound advice as yourself.

I remain indebted to your superior thought processes and will await your reply with bated breath, as surely as I am a fat, crippled douchebag named,

---Bob

 

[Diemaker]

Maybe I just like polished edges now that I can do them but I think they work on scissors just fine whether you cut paper, dog hair, plastic cups, or plastic sheet, to name a few I have tried it on.

 

[Gritomatic]

Since I might have your ear: my goal is to get the Apex functionally close to the level of the Pro without dumping in a whole lot of cash.

Have you considered Hapstone sharpener? In Apex price range, it outperforms EP Pro (with exception of no scissors).

 

[Wowbagger]

I would never own any Buck; ipso facto, no problem.

Yes, glass. I have a frosted. tempered glass desk I have been using since 1998. It's been fine. Maybe it's all luck, but in all likelihood, I only need another 6 months of use from the desk. Then I will be dead, and you can come over and drop your Buck 110 on it, and see what happens. Deal? That desk is where I write, do light work on knives and other mechanical type things, make paracord stuff, and I have one portion of it set up with continuous, variable temperature lighting from above and below for my macro and other product photography. I have two 27" 4k monitors on the desk; that's about it. If I need to anchor the Edge Pro (and I mean the Apex Unit, and whatever the current Apex Unit is), it will go on this desk. Not knowing how much it weighs, etc., I'm prepared to hang the monitors from a beam in my ceiling to offload.

I also have a large felt covered rubber mat on the desk where I do any work, so that most things that get dropped hit that and it wonderfully absorbs and dissipates the kinetic energy associated with such an event. But there have been any number of objects dropped on this glass since 1998, and there are no cracks, chips, etc. To be fair, maybe there's something magic about it other than being tempered and frosted. I do not know. I do know the desk was pricey in '98, but when I purchased it, I asked about such things, and was told not to worry.

The WorkSharp sits atop a piece of 2" granite, coated with Dynamat, which sits atop a 6" block of maple, which sits atop a wooden credenza. This is where heavier work and striking work gets done. The very heaviest striking work (using a 7lb deadblow and impact wrench, for example) gets done in the garage shop, where I don't have any glass.

I'll make you a deal, Mr. Bagger (I assume you prefer formality and respect instead of the somewhat presumptuous "Hey Wow"). I will report to you any breakage to this desk; I'll be a man, and 'fess the eff up, and admit the error of my ways as surely as the morning sun through yon window comes. For each breakage, you get to publicly humiliate me, and I can only reply "Yes sir, Mr. Bagger, sir. Yes sir." In exchange for this, you will donate $100 for each breakage to my cancer fundraising drive.

Should be a no-brainer for such a distinguished thinker, gentle person, and purveyor of sound advice as yourself.

I remain indebted to your superior thought processes and will await your reply with bated breath, as surely as I am a fat, crippled douchebag named,

---Bob

I have one portion of it set up with continuous, variable temperature lighting from above and below for my macro and other product photography.

Sounds cool ! I too have a light table. Hadn't considered combining metal work and slopping water on it. Sounds shocking.

As far as donating to the Cancer fund I feel like I have done that for at least the last forty years. I have for the most part shunned the use of my cars for daily transport to work and in place have ridden my bicycle.
Less air pollution (besides just the exhaust there are fumes from raw fuel and the process of making the tires I have avoided buying).
Less ground water contamination (leakage from gasoline filling stations, other fluids such as engine oil(quite carcinogenic once subjected to combustion gases) transmission and brake and coolant fluids) leaking into the gutters from rain run off . . .
I'll stop banging on about that.

Except to say the local restaurant right across from where I work who runs a *(*&(&)&) meat smoker all day and half the night, most all the employees smoke cigarettes and since the owner of the restaurant won't let his employees smoke there they all pile across the street and stand out side our door to smoke and then there is the rich clientele constantly coming and going from the establishment with their over powered diesel trucks . . . speaking of that several semis a day standing in the street delivering . . . idling for Bob knows what reason filling the area with sooty exhaust. All coming in our open door.

I think these fools should contribute to my fund.

 

[RLDubbya]

Greetings & Felicitations, Mr. Bagger!

I was going to ask a favor of you - if you could find a moment to spare from your crowded schedule, could you possibly direct me to whoever you dealt with to receive your sense of entitlement; the vendor who sold you the fitness program of jumping to conclusions, dodging reason, and throwing social responsibility into the trash (but do tell: is this program based on the latest theories of periodization from Tudor Bompa?), but I can see that you are most likely overtrained and in need of rest and recovery, so I will not be as brash to disturb you with my insignificant requests.

I take it that we do not then have a deal re: my glass desk breaking? You never know - given my sociopathic tendencies which you seem to share, I just might purposefully break the glass in order to receive a lesson in abject humility from somebody as yourself who clearly knows so much about it. This glass tabletop seems to remain an item of complete mystery and random assumptions to you: I'm not sure where you got the idea that I would consider a lighting setup located physically ON or otherwise touching the glass. I even went so far as to explain that I had a couple monitors on the desk, and that was about it - in point of fact, you quoted this!

While I'm not terribly concerned about this - for one thing, I am dying soon - did you realize that an inability to perform well in abstract reasoning tasks indicates that the individual's brain "lights up" precisely in that area known for schizophrenia. I'm sure that those feelings you've had of not quite being yourself are really just meaningless, and nothing to worry about. You certainly seem like quite the well-rounded, intelligent, grounded individual to the psychopath who lives in my bathroom mirror, and God knows I've had extensive discussions with him regarding such topics. Talk about a mindphreak!

You are, in fact, quite blessed to have a local restaurant right across from where you work - and it's local to you as well! If reality was otherwise, I would think that you were experiencing either insanity or a rift in the continuum - I wonder what the Minkowski model of that would look like?

Well, you know, it just doesn't much cheerier than that, so I'm off to bed, to dream of folds and curves and ring topologies and inversions turning the restaurant inside out.

I remain, fat, dumb, douchey, and crippled according to the man in the mirror,

RLDubbya