Home sharpener

[Craig 1]

I did some searches but didn't see the answer I was looking for and didn't want to bump an old thread.

The problem i have is im not getting even edges when sharpening.  I tap the toe and heel to get the blade centered and sharpen but it's not even one edge is higher. If I even out the blade and try my tap marks They are nowhere near centered on the blade and don't even out till the edges are uneven again.

this is on the portable blade master 

thanks in advance 

[SirJW 207]

Here is the thread you are looking for. 

 

[Craig 1]

Thank you!  I'll check it out

[Playmakersedge 58]

2 hours ago, Craig said:

I did some searches but didn't see the answer I was looking for and didn't want to bump an old thread.

The problem i have is im not getting even edges when sharpening.  I tap the toe and heel to get the blade centered and sharpen but it's not even one edge is higher. If I even out the blade and try my tap marks They are nowhere near centered on the blade and don't even out till the edges are uneven again.

this is on the portable blade master 

thanks in advance 

What do you mean tapping the toe and the heel.  Can you take a pick of your skate holder as well? 

[Craig 1]

Witnesses marks

skate holder is just the basic one that comes with the portable kit 2 levers

[Playmakersedge 58]

3 minutes ago, Craig said:

Witnesses marks

skate holder is just the basic one that comes with the portable kit 2 levers

Two dials?  

[Craig 1]

Never mind figured it out

 

[Craig 1]

[IPv6Freely 2093]

2 minutes ago, Craig said:

how do you post pictures on here? 

 

Upload to imgur.com and paste URL

[Playmakersedge 58]

Next question have you tried other blades?  . Take a pic of your witness marks . I need to see stuff to be able to guide you

[Craig 1]

Yes I've tried it on two pairs of skates. 

I won't be able to get some pics till tomorrow afternoon my kids have games in the morning and don't feel like running around trying to get them fixed before the games lol.

 

[Playmakersedge 58]

1 minute ago, Craig said:

Yes I've tried it on two pairs of skates. 

I won't be able to get some pics till tomorrow afternoon my kids have games in the morning and don't feel like running around trying to get them fixed before the games lol.

 

If that is your actual holder I can see its crooked.  This skate holder is different than the blade master holder I have used .  Those two bolts just inside the levers : is it possible they are for transportation purposes or if not they are too tight  . I'm going to look up that holder and see if I can straighten you out .  I will get back to you 

[Craig 1]

20 minutes ago, Playmakersedge said:

If that is your actual holder I can see its crooked.  This skate holder is different than the blade master holder I have used .  Those two bolts just inside the levers : is it possible they are for transportation purposes or if not they are too tight  . I'm going to look up that holder and see if I can straighten you out .  I will get back to you 

[Playmakersedge 58]

39 minutes ago, Craig said:

Use verneir calipers:  take a measurement @the gap bbetween the top of the base to the part that rubber spacer is. Looks like that's a 1/2" nut there . Measure surface to surface that gap has to be perfectly equal each end.  

Your wheel is 1/4" thick?  If yes put a sharpy mark center of the wheel.  With rotate the wheel right  measure from the mark to the table. Do the same rotating left. They should be the same.   

Take the cam lock off the holder.  Measure the thickness of the skate blade  (probably 4mm)  . 

Slide the skate holder over to your mark on the wheel  . Each end of the skate holder  adjust the lever on each end so the top of each end of the holder is half the blade width lower then the mark on the wheel.  

Make sure you are making marks that are small dots so your measurements are accuate.     Doing it this way is a process but not crazy  . 

Also I gotta ask  : you are not sliding that holder on the table with that towel under the holder rather then the felt? My guess is you aren't. If you are don't do that.  

Check and make sure things are tightened correctly  

[Craig 1]

When I get home from hockey I'll check all that out and get back to you.

just using the towel to set the holder down on the table for the picture 

thanks for the help

[Playmakersedge 58]

5 hours ago, Craig said:

When I get home from hockey I'll check all that out and get back to you.

just using the towel to set the holder down on the table for the picture 

thanks for the help

Any time  . I think I figured your problem out . I described  . Oh caps are not yelling.  Just to make it pop out . I'm off to the rink my self 

[Craig 1]

14 hours ago, Playmakersedge said:

Use verneir calipers:  take a measurement @the gap bbetween the top of the base to the part that rubber spacer is. Looks like that's a 1/2" nut there . Measure surface to surface that gap has to be perfectly equal each end.  

Your wheel is 1/4" thick?  If yes put a sharpy mark center of the wheel.  With rotate the wheel right  measure from the mark to the table. Do the same rotating left. They should be the same.   

Take the cam lock off the holder.  Measure the thickness of the skate blade  (probably 4mm)  . 

Slide the skate holder over to your mark on the wheel  . Each end of the skate holder  adjust the lever on each end so the top of each end of the holder is half the blade width lower then the mark on the wheel.  

Make sure you are making marks that are small dots so your measurements are accuate.     Doing it this way is a process but not crazy  . 

Also I gotta ask  : you are not sliding that holder on the table with that towel under the holder rather then the felt? My guess is you aren't. If you are don't do that.  

Check and make sure things are tightened correctly  

it looks like the space between the base, hose and nut are off a bit but not sure which side is right. 

[Playmakersedge 58]

3 hours ago, Craig said:

it looks like the space between the base, hose and nut are off a bit but not sure which side is right. 

The side that is higher I would say is off . I can see the gap at the top of that nut .  I don't know if this is an optical ilusion but it sure looks like that skate is tilted toward the table and the front side of the holder looks like the bottom is forward and the top is tilted toward you.  That black part the bottom side of the blade sits on ; it looks canted back from the pic . If its not an illusion then the cause of this is because either the bolts holding it are to loose . They need to be tight enough for things to move up and down ,but still hold things square. Or this holder got bounced around during shipping and it'  bent . Because there is a chance of metal particles between parts I would loosen that plate I am talking about the two nuts on the face  then blow it out with compressed air or vacuum it all out . Then put it all together just tight enough to keep it square.      If you have a small square, either a machinist square (if don't have get one)  or a simple small carpentry square.  I would like you to remove the skate and check to make sure the front of the holder is square with the table. Doing this is verifying if what I see is an illusion or not . Check this square issue after adjusting the jack bolt that is off. Adjust the high side I can see about a credit card gap above that nut on that side . Make each side equal.   Then check square to the table. 

Get your self a pair of digital vernier calipers for future measurements,machinist square. Good place is a tool supplier named grizzly.  

[Playmakersedge 58]

The edge you are checking, is that your work? If so that is a very nice pass as far as pressure on the blade and speed over the wheel.   

[Craig 1]

3 hours ago, Playmakersedge said:

The edge you are checking, is that your work? If so that is a very nice pass as far as pressure on the blade and speed over the wheel.   

Yeah that was me. That was me just eyeballing it to even edges . 

Another guy on here is saying because I have a hollow already and not cross grinding that witness marks will give me false readings so I'm guessing with an exsisting hollow you just use the level gauge ( the one with the lines and magnet) and once that's level sharpen away?

[Craig 1]

12 hours ago, Playmakersedge said:

The side that is higher I would say is off . I can see the gap at the top of that nut .  I don't know if this is an optical ilusion but it sure looks like that skate is tilted toward the table and the front side of the holder looks like the bottom is forward and the top is tilted toward you.  That black part the bottom side of the blade sits on ; it looks canted back from the pic . If its not an illusion then the cause of this is because either the bolts holding it are to loose . They need to be tight enough for things to move up and down ,but still hold things square. Or this holder got bounced around during shipping and it'  bent . Because there is a chance of metal particles between parts I would loosen that plate I am talking about the two nuts on the face  then blow it out with compressed air or vacuum it all out . Then put it all together just tight enough to keep it square.      If you have a small square, either a machinist square (if don't have get one)  or a simple small carpentry square.  I would like you to remove the skate and check to make sure the front of the holder is square with the table. Doing this is verifying if what I see is an illusion or not . Check this square issue after adjusting the jack bolt that is off. Adjust the high side I can see about a credit card gap above that nut on that side . Make each side equal.   Then check square to the table. 

Get your self a pair of digital vernier calipers for future measurements,machinist square. Good place is a tool supplier named grizzly.  

When I get home from work I'll start working on the holder and get back to you

[Playmakersedge 58]

Cool, have a good day.  

[Playmakersedge 58]

2 hours ago, Craig said:

Yeah that was me. That was me just eyeballing it to even edges . 

Another guy on here is saying because I have a hollow already and not cross grinding that witness marks will give me false readings so I'm guessing with an exsisting hollow you just use the level gauge ( the one with the lines and magnet) and once that's level sharpen away?

Witness marks  :  The theory of the mark giving you a false reading If there is a hollow I disagree  . This is why once your machine is set up to you and your children's skates you are going to know where your machine is  . This is going to be your base setting .(perfect for your family's skates)   So you KNOW your set up for those blades. 

So one of your children friends on the team wants you to sharpen his or her skate  . So you stone the blade sides ,then you turn the skate upside down you inspect the blade for deep nicks . Then take a quarter and lay it across the blade and you site down the blade and you see a slightly high inside edge.  So the skate has the same blade as your child's .......  your machine is already ready to go ,you put the skate in the holder and do it ......    Now what I am trying to show you is ; it doesn't matter what the last sharpener did;  that has to come off regardless and the variable that' going to make the blade edges even is your holder and machine.. .

The process that someone that goes by the rule you can't use witness marks on a hollow is going to use a blade height equalization gauge  (expensive)  . Or the are going to use the cross grinding wheel to make the blade flat ,then they say you can now make witness marks and use them to center The blade.  

Notice that in this process all we ended up  doing was grinding off the previous sharpening.. 

And you don't have a cross grinding wheel on a portable sharpener.  And the blade height equalization gauge is insane money. 

My way : stone burs off ,inspect the edge height with a coin, look for blade Nicks. This is to have an idea of how many passes you are going  to need to take to take out nicks and sharpen the blade  . 

Then you do the rough grinding taking all the nicks out . Count your passes  .   Then take an equal amount of passes on the other skate. 

Move the skate and holder to the side .  Resurface the wheel.  Clean the table  . Shake out the towel . Spray the towel with pledge, and wipe the table.  Grab your holder make sure there's nothing on the bottom  make  a finish pass on that skate.  Then a finish pass on the other.   This pair is done  ..

My way another cenairio : your buddy has CCM skates he asked you to sharpen.  The CCM blade are thinner than tuuk . So again this is your machine you know where you are set. So when you found the perfect for your skates you took white out and made marks on your lever assembly.  Ok a thinner blade has to be raised the difference of the width ,digital vernier calipers gives you widths of the blades then subtract.  This number is how much each end of the holder has to come up . Once that's done. Put a skate in the holder and touch the toe touch the heel the witness marks will be money . Do your rough passes both skates, resurface the wheel, whipe off the table, shake out the rag ,spray it with pledge, whipe the table, check bottom of the holder make a finish pass on each skate done .  3-5 minutes on a pair of skates on average to make them perfect .      Do you see in this that the variable you have control over is your machine.  It doesn't matter what the skate had as far as your quality of the job. It matters if you have to make a ton of passes because you need to charge more . That's it .   

And to be frank if you just put the CCM in the holder and sharpened them on your kids skates setting 8 out of 10 players wouldn't even feel the difference.  

I'm tutoring on how to use the equipment you have.  A single head portable/ bench top skate sharpener.   

And I will say again for a sharpened skate to have edge so off that it would give witness marks crazy off ,this is noticeable with the naked eye . The skate would look like it was sharpened by a blind person with no hands .  .... crazy  

 

 

 

[Craig 1]

That makes sense 

i use to sharpen my skates when I played about 20 years ago and I always used the witness marks that's why I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. 

Both pair of skates were so far off with even edges the quarter would just slide off.

ill work on the holder tonight and get more pictures and get back to you.

again thanks for the time and help

[Craig 1]

ok got the base leveled out . Black plate looks square but when I lock the skate in the cam lock seems really bend back and I've barley got any pressure on it before I lock it