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radius angle dresser size

beckerkumm

Hot Rolled
Joined
Aug 5, 2014
Location
Wisconsin Rapids WI
There are multiple sizes for rat tail type dressers. 3.4" to the centerline is most common but there are also sizes in the 2.6" centerline range. Is one size more appropriate or useful for an 8" wheel in the 1/2-1" thickness range? Other than machining differences, are there ease of use differences between a Yuasa, Last Word, or SPI dresser which all look slightly different? SPI looks to be Taiwan or China now and maybe Swiss for old ones. Last word have always been US and are now made by Suburban. Yuasa is Japan and I've seen some dressers with no name but stamped Japan as well as China. I don't know if others were produced in japan or if Yuasa private labeled. Any info is appreciated. Thanks, Dave
 
"Rat tail" specifically mentioned - sounds like your interest is primarily very small ID radii?
I would look at other features that affect use and set up. Including use of the stops, and how the unit functions/transitions between straight line tangent into or out of a radius.

Mine is an older SPI, most likely made in the Swiss Canton ROC. :)
Not familiar with other styles, but I like how this one functions. Turn the knob to create arcs, pull & twist to make straight lines. I'm sure there are better ways, and there are interesting optical dresser options for small work, like Herman Schmidt, Opti dress, Kuhn, etc. People who use them swear by J & S Fluid-motion style. Apparently easy to set up and use, but there are regimes where the form is not quite true due to the way they swing. All styles are now knocked off in mainland China.

Again, I only have experience with mine.

Re: your center height Q: If indeed your intentions are only small radii, it won't matter. In that case lower might be better just to keep things low on the chuck. Center height has some bearing on the max OD radius or straight line traverse the tool would accommodate.

Using a standard point here since the radius is fairly large. Rat tails are expensive and delicate, best to only use them for the very small radii they are designed for.

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smt
 
There are multiple sizes for rat tail type dressers. 3.4" to the centerline is most common but there are also sizes in the 2.6" centerline range. Is one size more appropriate or useful for an 8" wheel in the 1/2-1" thickness range? Other than machining differences, are there ease of use differences between a Yuasa, Last Word, or SPI dresser which all look slightly different? SPI looks to be Taiwan or China now and maybe Swiss for old ones. Last word have always been US and are now made by Suburban. Yuasa is Japan and I've seen some dressers with no name but stamped Japan as well as China. I don't know if others were produced in japan or if Yuasa private labeled. Any info is appreciated. Thanks, Dave

We still make and rework the Kuhn Tool Clearview Dresser. I'm not a grinder but I know a lot of guys who really like them, and are easy to use. They last for a very long time and made in the USA.

Here is a link if you want to check it out - http://www.kuhntool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/clearview.pdf
 
Does anyone have a preference between the Rat tail and the Clear view type dresser? There are cheap knock offs of the Clear View but it seems that the non Chinese originals or those from Yuasa hold their value pretty well. Same for the Rat tail. Dave
 
There is a Yuasa Clear -View clone on facebook marketplace in Chicago for $350ish. I think with those you have to move the diamond by hand when dressing an angle. I like the Last Word style dressers (you refer to as Rat-Tail) a bit better since the angle can be dressed by moving the handwheel - you don't have to get your hand down by the spinning wheel.
 
We might be talking past each other.

A rat tail dresser is a type of diamond point.

[tried to post catalog diagram here, forum no longer makes that easy]

Most of the "traditional" R & A dressers including Last Word and my SPI will take rat tail diamonds. I don't think the opti-dress style will. They get around it, partially, by using very small shank points.

What is the smallest ID you expect to dress? I wonder if the Opti-dress will go as small as a small dia rat tail, considering the limit is the radius of the projection that holds the point. I've dressed pretty small ID's with a .032 rat tail, but can't remember why.

For regular points, phono points, and chisels, the SPI point holder is set up once. After that, any diamond point is just set to a gage before using & the reference height will be correct & as centered as the quality of the point. However, if you change to rat tail configuration, that has to be set up again (rat tail holder & point centered & on height) on a surface plate for that use. And the regular holder again when the rat tail holder is swapped back out.

My SPI model has a lot of convenience features for setting radii without going back to the surface plate after original set up. Small additional details like the plunging stop in the base so it can be taken off the magnet and put back on in the same place is a nice thing to have at times. Also, while i have used manual sliding angle dressers in a grind shop, i would prefer having the mechanical traverse along with easy to position hard stops for any tangent work. Like Last Word and SPI, e.g. After watching online videos, i would not like the opti-dress systems unless the viewing feature was essential. It obviously must be, for many applications.

If you search Radius and angle dresser on PM, there's a lot of past posts and links to using some of the various kinds.

smt
 








 
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