- Joined
- May 18, 2009
- Messages
- 1,831
Hello all,
I am posting a review on the flat platen I purchased from Nathan the Machinist. This thing is a miracle worker. I had to have my stock KMG platen milled flat twice over the period of a year. So far this platen (which is hardened) is making my flat grinds truly flat.
Here is Nathan's original description:
"The flat platen is flat hardened A2 and has the air bearing port. It also has a radius on the leading and trailing edge that some people use to clean up the plunge while finish grinding a blade lengthwise. This is an unusual technique that a few people practice where they allow the belt to wrap around the end of the platen and grind their blades lengthwise at low speed. There is an 1/8" fillet on one end and 1/4" on the other. Due to the severity of the bend, the platen gets extremely hot very quickly so this can only be done at low belt speeds. You will probably want a chiller if you plan on doing this."
Onto the magic...You can remove the top wheel on the flat platen tooling piece and track the belt over the top of the platen which has a radius for this task. This allows you to grind lengthwise and get your scratch pattern going longways. I'm new to hand sanding and for me to get a good finish it takes a very long time and lots of sandpaper. With this platen and a new 220 J-Flex belt I can get a massive head start and a quality finish.
I would like to add that the makers getting a good hand sanded finish without this or the ability to grind lengthwise deserve praise for their work because it is not an easy feat.
Here is how it is set up:
This is straight off of the grinder at 220 (lengthwise):
Here I am working the scratches out around the plunge area (I am very gun shy about getting this area with the platen, I've nicked it a couple of times by getting carried away so for now I'm doing it by hand):
Here is what I'm doing for now to protect my plunge cuts while grinding lengthwise. It is a couple of pieces of thin nickel held on by very small very cheap vise grips. This will probably be unnecessary as I get more comfortable with this process:
That is to help me avoid this (which activated beast mode and made me snap the blade in my vise in a fit of rage and despair....I mean to check the grain structure)
Here is the blade finished with sanding. I know its not perfect but I'm learning, this is a smooth 400 grit finish.
Total time spent hand sanding was 24 minutes and 49 seconds. That includes messing with the sandpaper, spraying water, fiddling with my hand sanding set up, and messing with the stereo.
Two thumbs up :thumbup::thumbup:
I am posting a review on the flat platen I purchased from Nathan the Machinist. This thing is a miracle worker. I had to have my stock KMG platen milled flat twice over the period of a year. So far this platen (which is hardened) is making my flat grinds truly flat.
Here is Nathan's original description:
"The flat platen is flat hardened A2 and has the air bearing port. It also has a radius on the leading and trailing edge that some people use to clean up the plunge while finish grinding a blade lengthwise. This is an unusual technique that a few people practice where they allow the belt to wrap around the end of the platen and grind their blades lengthwise at low speed. There is an 1/8" fillet on one end and 1/4" on the other. Due to the severity of the bend, the platen gets extremely hot very quickly so this can only be done at low belt speeds. You will probably want a chiller if you plan on doing this."
Onto the magic...You can remove the top wheel on the flat platen tooling piece and track the belt over the top of the platen which has a radius for this task. This allows you to grind lengthwise and get your scratch pattern going longways. I'm new to hand sanding and for me to get a good finish it takes a very long time and lots of sandpaper. With this platen and a new 220 J-Flex belt I can get a massive head start and a quality finish.
I would like to add that the makers getting a good hand sanded finish without this or the ability to grind lengthwise deserve praise for their work because it is not an easy feat.
Here is how it is set up:
This is straight off of the grinder at 220 (lengthwise):
Here I am working the scratches out around the plunge area (I am very gun shy about getting this area with the platen, I've nicked it a couple of times by getting carried away so for now I'm doing it by hand):
Here is what I'm doing for now to protect my plunge cuts while grinding lengthwise. It is a couple of pieces of thin nickel held on by very small very cheap vise grips. This will probably be unnecessary as I get more comfortable with this process:
That is to help me avoid this (which activated beast mode and made me snap the blade in my vise in a fit of rage and despair....I mean to check the grain structure)
Here is the blade finished with sanding. I know its not perfect but I'm learning, this is a smooth 400 grit finish.
Total time spent hand sanding was 24 minutes and 49 seconds. That includes messing with the sandpaper, spraying water, fiddling with my hand sanding set up, and messing with the stereo.
Two thumbs up :thumbup::thumbup:
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