What's happening in the David Mary Custom shop?

Finished repairs on my etching machine, replaced a well worn platen, and started all over again, with one nearing completion. Three on the left spoken for, three on the right, not yet. Sylvan, one-off karambit-ish knife (the ring is going to be gone), Canadian belt knife, two AEB-L knives, and a MagnaCut.

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David Mary said:
Finished repairs on my etching machine, replaced a well worn platen, and started all over again, with one nearing completion. Three on the left spoken for, three on the right, not yet. Sylvan, one-off karambit-ish knife (the ring is going to be gone), Canadian belt knife, two AEB-L knives, and a MagnaCut.

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Beauty, eh!!!
 
Feels like you recently replaced your platen?
Wow....you are Busy
 
Depends how much you use them and how flat the surface you stick them to. I have Jarod making me a new platen to stick them to because the one that came with my grinder is not very flat.
 
Just leaving the shop now. Might have lost track of time a little bit. I've heard it can happen while having fun. Evidence supports that at this time. Further testing to come tomorr... erm, later today.

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Crag the Brewer said:
I've been wanting to try them, but I thought they were supposed to last longer?
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They last a very long time. This one cracked much sooner than others I have used, but it's my fault. My grinder platen is no perfectly flat, but it's close. Usually I put the CA glue thicker in the low spots so that during clamping it will fill those areas more and provide a cushion/buffer to absorb some of the force instead of having it all absorbed into the glass platen. I forgot to do that this time. Despite that, the platen structure is still flat. Once it becomes a problem for grinding though, I will swap it out, and make a note to do the glue as described.
 
The cracked platen was a problem right away so I've taken steps to hopefully prevent early cracks again.

First, acetone soak to release the glue.

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After that I stick my putty knife in the seam and tap it with a hammer and it usually just pops off, but this time it left a section of glass on the platen which required several minutes of hand grinding with a diamond plate.

Once all that was removed I proceeded to flatten it somewhat by hand grinding with a flat piece of 3/8" G10 as my "handheld platen".

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I've been using this particular set up for going on four years now and I can't believe I never thought to do this before.

The low spots are still there, but nowhere near as deep as before. Hopefully this will mean less grinding time and fiddling to get the same or better results and with less platen consumption.

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