Conrad Hoffman
Diamond
- Joined
- May 10, 2009
- Location
- Canandaigua, NY, USA
Give me a reality check! I'm about to post a review of the Phase II end mill sharpener in the photo below. This is the text of my review and I just want to be sure I'm not overlooking something stupid and/or obvious:
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I bought this because it uses bushings rather than 5C collets, which I don't have. First, the good. The precision of the bushings and holder is excellent and the rotation is smooth and dead concentric. The detent system works great. It can do 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 flute end mills. I did have to stone some high spots off the bottom, around the holes, lest it damage my magnetic chuck, and off of one bushing where a small ding prevented it from entering the the holder. About two minutes and no big deal- you should be stoning any new tool before it hits the chuck. The unit is solid so there's no chatter, and it's an absolute joy to use.
Now the bad. They didn't get the angles right. The spec sheet says 2 degrees, and the 4.96" square base is cut to exactly 2 degrees slope across the diagonal. That means the dish angle on the end mill is 1.41 degrees, which is small but OK. The primary angle (the cutting edge angle) is also 1.41 degrees. That's way too low, almost flat. A typical end mill will be about 5 degrees, higher yet for aluminum and a bit lower for steel. The end mills will cut, but they're far from optimum.
The cure is to either put the device in a huge grinding vise at a slight angle, mount it on a sine plate or attach a shop-made wedge base to it, with a 3-4 degree angle, to bring the cutting angle up to what it should be. I suppose one could also work up the wheel slightly and only cross feed, giving a bit of a hollow grind, but that's just not how it's supposed to be done. If it weren't for the angle issue, this would be a 5 star device.
BTW, the instructions are near to useless, but just put the ball handle to the right, and grind the flute end closest to the grinder column. That orients the angles correctly, keeps grit out of the detent mechanism and allows you to see where the wheel is hitting relative to the center of the end mill. Keep the bushings and holder clean of grit, or they're likely to jam up.
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I bought this because it uses bushings rather than 5C collets, which I don't have. First, the good. The precision of the bushings and holder is excellent and the rotation is smooth and dead concentric. The detent system works great. It can do 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 flute end mills. I did have to stone some high spots off the bottom, around the holes, lest it damage my magnetic chuck, and off of one bushing where a small ding prevented it from entering the the holder. About two minutes and no big deal- you should be stoning any new tool before it hits the chuck. The unit is solid so there's no chatter, and it's an absolute joy to use.
Now the bad. They didn't get the angles right. The spec sheet says 2 degrees, and the 4.96" square base is cut to exactly 2 degrees slope across the diagonal. That means the dish angle on the end mill is 1.41 degrees, which is small but OK. The primary angle (the cutting edge angle) is also 1.41 degrees. That's way too low, almost flat. A typical end mill will be about 5 degrees, higher yet for aluminum and a bit lower for steel. The end mills will cut, but they're far from optimum.
The cure is to either put the device in a huge grinding vise at a slight angle, mount it on a sine plate or attach a shop-made wedge base to it, with a 3-4 degree angle, to bring the cutting angle up to what it should be. I suppose one could also work up the wheel slightly and only cross feed, giving a bit of a hollow grind, but that's just not how it's supposed to be done. If it weren't for the angle issue, this would be a 5 star device.
BTW, the instructions are near to useless, but just put the ball handle to the right, and grind the flute end closest to the grinder column. That orients the angles correctly, keeps grit out of the detent mechanism and allows you to see where the wheel is hitting relative to the center of the end mill. Keep the bushings and holder clean of grit, or they're likely to jam up.
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