Home built universal grinder

[albertq]

Congratulations albertq - your Universal Grinder is the Homemade Tool of the Week!

An epic build that will no doubt be replicated by our members, especially with the help of your plans files.

Some more good builds from this week:



Circle Cutting Jig by orioncons36
Snap Ring Groove Positioner by winkys workshop
Laser Engraver by tonyfoale
Keyway Cutter by Improvised DIY
Boring Head Attachment by Rorschach
Plane Setting Hammer by e_m_maker

albertq - we've added your tool entry to our All Homemade Tool of the Week winners post. And, you'll now notice the wrench-on-pedestal award in the awards showcase in your postbit, visible beneath your username:



I've cancelled your paid membership and granted you free lifetime membership, so you'll never have to pay for membership again.

And, you'll be receiving a $100 cash prize, in your choice of Amazon (US-only), PayPal, or bitcoin. Please PM me your current email address and prize choice and I'll get it sent over right away.

Nice work!

Thank you for the tool of the week prize. I had just received and replied to the email notifying of the cancellation of my subscription and thought I had somehow inadvertently cancelled it and asked to reinstate it. Only saw now in this post the granting of lifetime free membership, so thank you again and really appreciate it.

[albertq]

Congratulations albertq - your Universal Grinder is the Homemade Tool of the Week!

An epic build that will no doubt be replicated by our members, especially with the help of your plans files.

Some more good builds from this week:

Circle Cutting Jig by orioncons36
Snap Ring Groove Positioner by winkys workshop
Laser Engraver by tonyfoale
Keyway Cutter by Improvised DIY
Boring Head Attachment by Rorschach
Plane Setting Hammer by e_m_maker

albertq - we've added your tool entry to our All Homemade Tool of the Week winners post. And, you'll now notice the wrench-on-pedestal award in the awards showcase in your postbit, visible beneath your username:



I've cancelled your paid membership and granted you free lifetime membership, so you'll never have to pay for membership again.

And, you'll be receiving a $100 cash prize, in your choice of Amazon (US-only), PayPal, or bitcoin. Please PM me your current email address and prize choice and I'll get it sent over right away.

Nice work!

Hi Jon, The free lifetime membership is already enough prize for me. As I'm in Cape Town South Africa, it will be difficult to utilize the $100, so please use it to keep Homemade tools going or donate it to a good charity. Again much appreciated.

[albertq]

That explains why I do not do CAD, well just one reason anyway. That is not quite true, I do have my own CAD system which is outlined in detail at
Slotter or broach driver. Cardboard Assisted Design.

Attachment 46702

I also sometimes use your cardboard version of CAD.
But, after reading an article in a Kit Planes magazine some 10 years ago, written by an old toolmaker who claimed to have tried 20 odd CAD systems and always battled with it, until he came across Alibre Design which he described as intuitive and simple to learn, I decided to have a go. So I downloaded a 30 day free trial of Alibre design professional and I taught myself basic CAD literally in one day, it was really that simple, and by the end of the 30 day period I had designed the mechanics for a helicopter throttle governor system for my Ukrainian AK1-3 helicopter. I engaged a electronics engineer to handle the electronic control side as I'm useless at that, and made a number of retrofit governor systems for other pilots after obtaining approval from the helicopter manufacturer. After a month I already felt like very confident and fluent with CAD.
I later switched to Fusion 360 which was very similar and easy to transition to, and less costly for a retired hobbyist.
I am so glad I put in that one days effort to learn CAD, as it is now so simple to design and build the 3-D parts, then assemble them into a working project. It is easy to make changes to parts and assemblies that it encourages design experimentation of different concept ideas before choosing the best one to make.
The best part is once you have checked your assembly and make sure the movable parts function and don't interfere with one another, there are virtually no errors after construction is done and everything fits together just right.
I get as much pleasure creating using the CAD as I do actually making the parts. You should give it a try Tony, you won't be sorry.
I don't have shares or any interest in either of these CAD packages so no hard sell here.
Here is that Alibre CAD governor design after using the program a month and not full time. Also a photo of that governor design mounted to a helicopter.

[Jon]

Hi Jon, The free lifetime membership is already enough prize for me. As I'm in Cape Town South Africa, it will be difficult to utilize the $100, so please use it to keep Homemade tools going or donate it to a good charity. Again much appreciated.

Added zip file with 44 more photos to first post, and 5 videos, per albertq's request.

Since this universal grinder is used for sharpening, I decided to donate the $100 prize to Knife Rights, a charity that protects the rights of knife owners and pursues litigation to stop anti-knife laws.

[trevor_60_r]

Very nice build, Excellent quality and a very professional job. Thanks very much for sharing this with us.

Trevor

[tonyfoale]

I also sometimes use your cardboard version of CAD................

..............The best part is once you have checked your assembly and make sure the movable parts function and don't interfere with one another, there are virtually no errors after construction is done and everything fits together just right.

Albert,

I have at times past tried Alibre and Fusion as you suggest but the simple truth is that I do not need much in the way of drawings and I regret any time spent that is not directly making what I want. When I was younger, way before desktop CAD I used to do proper engineering drawings for my own stuff but at work I always had drawing offices to do the drawings for me, it was considered a waste of an engineer's time to spend it drawing. In the 1970s I had my own business making racing motorcycle chassis, so it was back to the drawing board but I guess that with increased experience I needed no more than basic layouts to check geometry. Then when desktop CAD came along I was having a break from making stuff so I never got into CAD. Now I only make stuff for myself and I rarely even need to make rough sketches, only for complex things like complete engines. That is not to say that I am not accurate or that I am careless or slap-happy. It is just that I do not need drawings to achieve the required result. I am very careful and usually think long and hard about any design but that is a mental activity without the need for drawings. I have never had problems with parts not fitting together nor creating interference. I am able to visualise 3D shapes just as vividly as a CAD jockey does on a screen.

I have a CNC Bridgeport and so you would think that CAD would be essential but my stuff is either 2 or 2.5D and for simple stuff I use the MDI interface, for not so simple stuff I hand write G-code and for more complex stuff I write dedicated software that outputs the G-code. Today for example I made what I hope will be an improved design of gun for my bead blaster. It required linear and circular interpolation, boring and thread milling. That was all done via MDI and the whole job was far quicker than if I had taken the CAD/CAM route. Here is a work-in-progress example that had some roughing done manually and the CNC work was from hand coded G-code.



There are times though when the lack of drawings or schematics does come home to bite me. Mainly with electronic stuff, if I need to return to something after a time away from it my ageing memory lets me down. Fortunately, most such projects these days are a mixture of electronic and software, and I can generally work out the hardware design by reading the software.

Different stroke for different folks, I guess.

[albertq]

Albert,

I have at times past tried Alibre and Fusion as you suggest but the simple truth is that I do not need much in the way of drawings and I regret any time spent that is not directly making what I want. When I was younger, way before desktop CAD I used to do proper engineering drawings for my own stuff but at work I always had drawing offices to do the drawings for me, it was considered a waste of an engineer's time to spend it drawing. In the 1970s I had my own business making racing motorcycle chassis, so it was back to the drawing board but I guess that with increased experience I needed no more than basic layouts to check geometry. Then when desktop CAD came along I was having a break from making stuff so I never got into CAD. Now I only make stuff for myself and I rarely even need to make rough sketches, only for complex things like complete engines. That is not to say that I am not accurate or that I am careless or slap-happy. It is just that I do not need drawings to achieve the required result. I am very careful and usually think long and hard about any design but that is a mental activity without the need for drawings. I have never had problems with parts not fitting together nor creating interference. I am able to visualise 3D shapes just as vividly as a CAD jockey does on a screen.

I have a CNC Bridgeport and so you would think that CAD would be essential but my stuff is either 2 or 2.5D and for simple stuff I use the MDI interface, for not so simple stuff I hand write G-code and for more complex stuff I write dedicated software that outputs the G-code. Today for example I made what I hope will be an improved design of gun for my bead blaster. It required linear and circular interpolation, boring and thread milling. That was all done via MDI and the whole job was far quicker than if I had taken the CAD/CAM route. Here is a work-in-progress example that had some roughing done manually and the CNC work was from hand coded G-code.



There are times though when the lack of drawings or schematics does come home to bite me. Mainly with electronic stuff, if I need to return to something after a time away from it my ageing memory lets me down. Fortunately, most such projects these days are a mixture of electronic and software, and I can generally work out the hardware design by reading the software.

Different stroke for different folks, I guess.

Indeed Tony, I'm not an engineer, so CAD / CAM helps keep things more simple for me. I'm impressed with you engineering abilities and envious of your electronics know how. We never stop learning and hence we both enjoy Homemade tools.