Flat Grind Heaven!

I just went back to look at Rob's pictures one more time. Something I've wondered is does it need the middle wheel to maintain a flat surface, or can enough tension be placed on the belt between two wheels to create as flat a surface? Particularly if the two wheels were a little closer together. Any thoughts?
 
Andrew
Yes it needs the middle wheel for the attachment I have.
I grind just above the middle wheel for flat grinds.
For crowning I go between the two wheels.
I have talked to Rob about other configurations.
I feel it is not my place to explain what he has in mind for the next phase of prototypes ect.
You may want to talk to him directly.
 
Andrew,

The next design level will try to incorporate of few changes. The biggest change is make the attachment in the fashion of a "turret head" so that it can be rotated around to any side or to any wheel. Graymaker touched on this concept earlier. On this new design, the rollers will have different spacing on each side to give a varing degree of convex...so one side will have a pair of roller nearly touching together..for the flattest grind and sharpest plunge.....and they gradually spread farther apart on the other 3 sides.

The roller diameter is constrainted by the minimum bend radius of the belts. Some belts are designed to bend around smaller rollers than others...however it looks like the smallest roller will be a 2" diameter. So the attachment will not be able to provide "small wheel" work like the other "small wheel" attachments. To simplify the design as well as controlling costs, I'm planning on using the same size roller throughout., rather than making 3 or 4 different diameters.

The turret head lends itself to the Bader and KMG1 design with the sliding tool bar. I tried it today on the Square wheel...but the a had troubles taking up the belt slack in all the positions....I'm afraid that the square wheel will may be limited....but it is still in development and a worthy goal to try to achieve.

An attachment for the Bader BIII is very simple and will be nearly identical to the KMG1 attachment. I've also started a BurrKing attachment.....this will be the most simple (same for HardCore) and will closley mimick the knifemakers attachment. It will be a simple bracket with an upper roller and a tensioning roller. A prototype for the BurrKing is in the works.

Most of the current development work is to get the mechanics figured out for durability and functionality. As more guys start playing with them.....the refinement will really take off and they'll get better and better.

As I write this...I just recieved an email....with the suggestion to have a "contest" to name this contraption.....so whatta ya'll think....what are we going to call these things?

....belty spinny thingy....? NOT!


Well, that's all for now...I'll keep posting as things develop.

Sincerely, Rob
 
I suggest calling it the Onion-flavored KMG, with absolutely no disrespect to Ken.

There is only one problem with this grinding attachment right now....the agonizing wait until it's commercially available.

Great development, Rob and Ken. Congratulations on advancing the craft.
 
how  about the
Ken-it-do-all attachment
with a hollow wheel on it it will do just about it all.
catchy;)
 
Thanks for the overview Rob. Seems like this thing is flying along. I look forward to getting my hands on one. One thought I'd like to throw out is the idea of keeping two wheels up front and the adjusting wheel in back with the two front wheels having the distance between them fully adjustable within a certain range. I think they would need to appose each other on an arch to compensate for the change in distance. What do you think?

As far as a name goes I vote for Rotary Platen.
 
I was thinking (as before)the adjusting wheel in the
back would/could be the
hollow grinding wheel, (in case it was missed,)
Then as rob said rotate it. the rollers can be put anywhere if
it were slotted, to slide them up and down as you wanted to.
the top or bottom roll could have a quick adjust setting also.
to accommodate the difference in grinding belt
distance for tension if it can't be just flipped over
with a concentric point,

on the willton the tention shouldn't be a problem anyway
 
I've heard some of the makers talking about a 26" or larger wheel. Could you add a face that would grind like a really big wheel? It would be much safer, cheaper, and no major modifications to the grinder set-up.
See you at the Blade Show?
One big want, Lynn
 
How about "Rotary flat platen" sounds good to me !Or "Ken's super whammie knife thingey"
 
The wife would like the .
knife thingey thing :)
I still like the ken-it-do-all
yes yes it can do it all,, sorry :rolleyes:
 
How about the Serpentine Platen. By the way I think I want one when it is ready for the Burr king. Especially if it can also act like a big wheel 20" or bigger.
 
Holy Moly!!! Time sure flys! I'm not sure how it happened, but while searching, I came across this old thread documenting the day by day development of the rotary platen attachment right here on Blade forums just over 4 years ago.
 
I think you should call it the 'Sweet Onion" attatchment and start selling them.
Looks great guys.
STR
 
Well I must say you had me going there too Rob.That is until I looked at the date of post #1 :) I was sitting here going back and forth on the pics trying to figure out the differece between "the new one" & "the old rotary platen" :o Ha ! Ha ! Thats a real funny there :rolleyes:
 
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