DMT Aligner with bench stones question

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wvdavidr

Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
370
Hello all,
I am going to try Shapton Professional waterstones. If I don't do well with free handing, will the DMT Aligner allow me to get good results? Has anybody tried this combination?

Thanks,
Dave
 
I think the Aligner clamp is actually better-suited for use with bench stones, instead of the dedicated rod-guided hones. Don't see any reason why it shouldn't do well with a waterstone, so long as the height of the stone isn't an issue. I don't have any waterstones, but some apparently can be some pretty tall 'bricks'. If so, might need to improvise a platform to elevate the clamp to a suitable working height, relative to the stone's surface.

I have used my Aligner clamp with an 8" DMT Duo-Sharp hone supported on DMT's base for those, and really liked the combination (wish I'd figured that out a long time ago).


David
 
I have used the DMT Aligner kit and it is relatively foolproof although not very precise. I have needed to reprofile a not of factory edges that were at bad angles and this can take awhile even with the coarse diamond stones. The biggest improvement I found was to make a piece for the DMT that functions as a strop.
 
I used a DMT aligner clamp as an angle guide for my Norton 220/1000 waterstone.

The height of the stone quickly becomes a problem because it's a waterstone. When it wears, the height lowers, which changes the angle that the aligner is at. It can take a long time because of this, but it's still possible to use it. I just gave up on it though and have been free-handing and resolved to only use it again when I have some diamond plates.

But I don't think Shapton stones wear very much do they? If not it shouldn't be a problem. Only issue that might show up is that the guide rod can kind of "bend" if you use too much pressure, and if you don't clean up your slurry you'll kind of grind in a flat on the top of the rod. But it's not really an issue, just thought you should be aware
 
Just remember that the angle on the DMT Aligner once used with a stone will not be correct. You should use marker on the edge of the blade and make a pass on the stone, then adjust the Aligner till it hits the edge that you have.
 
Do you run the standoff on the Aligner on the stone or off to the side of the stone?
 
kelbro said:
Do you run the standoff on the Aligner on the stone or off to the side of the stone?
Click to expand...

Off to the side, normally. DMT has a video demonstrating use of the Aligner with a bench hone, here (about 1:05 into the video):

[video=youtube;iZOM_3Xi8O0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZOM_3Xi8O0[/video]


David
 
Thanks David. I thought that I had seen that before. Didn't know where!
 
I received the Shapton Professional waterstones. They are about (or a bit over) 1/2". To start, I'll use the 'marker trick' to match angles.

Thank you all for your help and opinions.
Dave
 
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