Edge Pro Glass Blanks

[Diemaker]

When did the sharpening become so complicated... You are arguing about the blank flatness, but this flatness only matters if the sharpening device can support same tolerances .

I hear what you are saying, but I am guilty of always wanting to make my knives sharper. Here is a photo where a .02" difference in stone thickness caught me. If the stones were the same thickness the Shapton Glass 6000 would have cleaned up the scratches from the 4000. Polishing tapes would be worse since they are finer. Bevel is .03" wide for reference. Sharpener was my EP Apex.

 

[Diemaker]

I have been making more EP polishing tape blanks and spent some time indicating the second op fixture in as well as I could, between .0002" and .0004" out of level end to end on the different stations. I rotated the inserts in the facemill and was meticulous in cleaning the pockets and screws so they would index as accurately as possible. I then played with feed rates and spindle speeds to see just how accurate I could make the tape holders. The 4 parts I measured from the same station in the fixture were .001", .0013", .0018", and .002". Spindle speed and feed rate didn't seem to affect runout, I am pretty sure this is as accurate as I can make them with the current tools and aluminum I am using. I will find out if we can get the aluminum extrusion "normalized" the next time we have it made, it's a custom size. This will reduce the stress in the material so when I cut off the skin the part doesn't move as much. Another possibility is a new face mill with diamond inserts. The downside of this is it would cost close to $2k complete and one loose part could kill it, so not on the short list of things to try. Something I have been thinking of is lapping them on some wet 320 sandpaper. Once I try this I will post the results.