mckjim

Original Six??? Is that you Charlie?Chuck? How is the weather back there in Woburn, Mass., is it "wicked awesome"?

I like the 100/50 for my X02 machine. I have been using it for over two years to sharpen skates for a High School Varsity and 2 J.V. Teams. I also use it for 2 Bantam teams. It is a great machine for team skate sharpening. I picked up a little luggage dolly and bungee strap it and a Craftsman portable table to take to the rinks for out of town games. It is light enough to move around, but the luggage dolly makes it a snap to move in and out of the rinks. I also suggest an extension cord be brought with you. You never know from one rink to another where the power will be.

That is one fine set up you have there.

The design of that type of gauge depends on certain absolutes: 1. The gauges parts have not been bent and are true, especially where contacting the blade. Both the top piece on the edges of the blade and the magnetic pickup reference portion. 2. That the blade you are testing is not bent on any axis being referenced. 3. There is no debris of any kind on the gauge parts or the blade. This would mean burrs, imperfections, steel grit, or dirt of any kind. Have you checked any other skates to see if this problem is unique to your skate blade only? The theory of this type of gauge is that it should not matter what direction the gauge is mounted, it should read the same, unless one of the absolutes for its effectiveness are changed. The only other possibility I can think of is, the bottom of the gauge hitting the plastic holder, or a defect, scrape, gouge or imperfection of the plastic on one side of the skate and not the other. Anything that cause the gauge to contact the steel differently could cause it to be ineffective. If there is no defects in the plastic holder, then please check other skate blades and see if you get the same result. If the result repeats on other skate blades then the gauge must be defective.

Is there a burr on the blade on either side, causing the reference part of guage to be off verticle? Is the blade itself bent and not truly giving a right angle reading?

JR, The resaon I used a 90 degree elbow on the tubing near the wheel was to get as large and opening as possible to collect as much dust. Also, I have found that putting "Fine Shine" or whatever cutting oil you want on the blade from the beginning makes the dust heavier and there is less missing the suction. It makes the dust heavier and easier for the vacuum to pick it up. A little more oil gets used, but a lot less dust accumulates. Safe sharpening!! and safer breathing now!

Perfect! Great job. You might try to put in a small slit in the front tube to allow the blade to pass though as the wheel wears and it will give you more clearance. It will not affect the suction. Jr, How did you get the picture to post directly on the message?

True North Have you adjusted the clamp of the holder to clamp the blade tighter for the bigger heavier skate? My guess is that if the boot is heavier, the skate will pull down more causing the grinding wheel to contact unevenly on the bottom edge and might not hit the top edge squarely. There is also the possibility that your blade or blades are bent. A bent blade is the first thing I look for when all of a sudden I have one skate not sharpening like the rest. After a while you can see a consistent "spark pattern" while sharpening skates that will tell you the edges are even. I like to see a solid gold spark pattern to the left of the grinding wheel, very little sparks on the wheel to the right of the the blade being sharpened and little sparks seemingly dancing over the top edge of the blade usually indicate a good even grinding. Also, after a while you can "hear" the sound of a good even grinding. This however, is too hard for me to discribe. It is one of those things, that you' ll know it when you hear it. Also, I have found when you don't re-dress the wheel after doing several pairs of skates it will cause the blades to be uneven. But this is usually consistently uneven along the entire length of the steel. Last guess, is your hand pressure applied to the holder consistent? Putting too much force down on the holder inconsistently can cause your edges to be uneven from one skate to the next. Chiefs17 Thanks! The dust collection works good for about $100.00 per machine. The reason I went to the smaller diameter pvc is for the extra suction. I notched out the 90 degree elbow by putting it into the grinding wheel. This gives me clearance and allows me to put the vacuum system as close to the grinding dust as possible. I am still trying to find a "quieter" way of dust collecting on the cheap. I keep looking for new ideas, any thoughts anyone?

Yes. It is negligible.

So far, so good. It appears to work as advertised. The only thing I notice is it leaves a small witness scuff on the side of the blade.

http://img43.imageshack.us/i/img00005201005211453.gif/ This last photo is of the Square Edge Tool (S.E.T.) I had a patent made for but have not as yet begun producing. http://img684.imageshack.us/i/page1of11.gif/ Sorry these are all so disjointed, I am trying to figure out how to post photos as I go here.

Just thought I would try to post some photos of my little work shop. I have two portable Blademaster machines an SPB-851 and a BRC2005 as well as an X02 Blackstone portable and a Blackstone Mag-75 for dressing the portables with the FBV. I also picked up the Edge Again portable blade maintenance tool. All of this was accumulated over the years of sharpening skates for my three boys. Currently I have all of this set up in the locker room of my son's high school team. I take the X02 on away games and use the Blademaster machines daily. http://img228.imageshack.us/i/89695671.gif http://img3.imageshack.us/i/40241185.gif/ http://img268.imageshack.us/i/58856143.gif/ http://img171.imageshack.us/i/12457163.gif/ http://img412.imageshack.us/i/31865597.gif/

I have on occasion done passes only in the "profile" area. But only on skates that have been butchered by someone who has ground away the toe and heel of the blades into the plastic holder. I call it the "banana hook" look. I try to take off the steel only in this area on these types of skates. I finish with a pass along the entire length of the blade. I was taught that the steel and the grinding wheel should only contact in one spot when sharpening and that if any part of the blade remains in contact with the grinding wheel longer than another part, it will take off more metal. I try to always introduce the skate blade to the grinding wheel at the apex of the wheel facing the holder and turn the holder to maintain blade contact at the same location on the grinding wheel for the entire blade length. If you bring the blade into the grinding wheel to the right of the apex and continue accross the grinding wheel then the first part of the blade to contact the grinding wheel will have a longer duration contact with the grinding wheel than the rest of the blade and result in more metal over time being removed from this spot than from the rest of the blade. Also, I have witnesses people sharpening, whether the toe or heel is introduced to the grinding wheel first, that at the end of their pass, they allow the blade to contact the grinding wheel to the right of the apex and results in the "banana hook" phenomenon on the other end of the skate blade. The grinding wheel rotates clockwise, and the grinding of the blades should always be done from right to left regardless of your preference of toe or heel first in the holder. I have a brother that did professional grinding here in Detroit for a specialty grinding machine shop, and he explained that a back and forth grinding from right to left and back again will produce heat on the edges and the edges will not be as strong and become brittle and will wear faster. If that is the way machinists grind, I figured it must work equally as well for doing skate blades, and over time, it has for me.

True North I use the HDI as well, but only to check against the Quick Square, from Blademaster. After repeated use, the Quick Square aluminiun right angle piece can get wear marks. I use the HDI to make sure the aluminium piece is still accurate. Also, Home Depot and Lowes sell aluminium angle for relatively cheap prices and you can cut your own replacement pieces and simple super glue or hot glue a magnet in the middle and you have a new fresh angle piece. I find the HDI takes too much time when doing a lot of skates. But my routine is to check the blade at the front and back after sharpening, with the Quick Square. Usually if the edges are square at the front and the back of the blade, they are square in the middle. I have seen where only checking for square edges in the middle of the blade will not reveal "unsquare edges" at the front and even the back of a sharpened blade. Generally when I sharpen and try for perfect "squareness", when the blade at the front is being sharpened and the edge is lower at the bottom edge in the holder, I lower the holder on that side and bring the blade down relative to the grinding wheel and "square" it up. I hope this helps. Technical writing to solve problems is difficult, especially when trying not to confuse people even more.

I have found that the Blackstone holders adjust up/down about one thousandth of an inch for every 6 clicks you turn the adjustment dial. Generally, if I find that a skate I am sharpening is hitting too low on the right side of the blade by one thousandth of an inch I simply adjust the holder on the right front dial by turning it 6 clicks down, to lower the blade as against the grinding wheel. The adjustment dial in the front right of the holder in this example is what I would adjust, not the pitch dial.