For cooling the axe down in water, could you do a bucket under the 2 pivot posts, and then when the axe is on the left pivot you could rotate it counter clockwise and dip it in, and then swing it back up clockwise. taking it off might just be faster 🤷♂️
This is what I was thinking as well. Tim could fab a trough so he could dunk the axe head on either side. Add a tab so the axe would only dunk to a certain depth and could just sit there to cool hands free while changing belts.
If you make a stand for a slag bucket under the grinder, you can just rotate the ax/hatchet head around and dip it into the bucket. That way you don’t have to pull the jig off the rod! Great design!
Always improving the shop! Never too fancy or expensive but always better and more efficient than before. If you stop getting better you stop being good! That's why your channel is unique and that is why I watch! Keep it up Tim
It seems like a good jig. The only thing I could add is to make sure you use some blue loctite on all the bolts. You don't want it to slowly move once you have it fully adjusted for that particular axe run. Adjustable jigs are great only if they stay exactly where they were adjusted to.
Nice! Maybe use a drill to taper the outside edges of the hole in the bushings so it is easier to slide on to the pins? Might make things easier for cooling and you don't have to worry about losing index like you would with puling the axe head off the jig.
Hey Tim, you may want to add something to deflect the sparks and grinding dust away from the pins and bushings. After a while of running your jig over it you will end up sanding down the pins and bushings and you'll lose the stability you were talking about. Thanks for the video! :)
Just a thought Tim. Would it be better to have a small flat plate behind the belt where the axe contacts it? This would prevent a slightly curved edge if you pushed in a bit too hard, but I don't know axe making and perhaps a slightly curved edge is what you are after. Have enjoyed your views for a long time.
I'd be willing to bet money that Tim played with Lego blocks, as a kid. Not the confused furries and drag queens on parade Lego blocks, but the astronaut and race car driver type of Lego blocks.
Overall, that is awesome. Personally, I think you have too much going on with the multi-link adjustment piece and that cold be simplified a little. I mean, don't get me wrong, it works. I just think you could simplify it some.
What you need is a precision wet grinder and dry grinder. You don't have a buddy to help you out so you need all the help you can get. As a newish Tool and Die Maker, you need help brother.
Thanks for the video Tim.... I had an idea for cooling the axe while sharpening. If the axe can swing all the way down, you could make a "long" water container so you don't even need to take the axe nor the contrapment off. You can just swing it around up or down. I'm not sure I describe my idea I see in my head correctly. 🙂
I really appreciate the substantial time and effort that you put into making not only this awesome metal working content, but the production values as well. The lighting is great! Really love the light creation vids too. Okay. Carry on.
Great job Tim , will enable you to do repeatable work ie every time will be the same . Your sharpening skills are amazing anyway but this will be even better . Thanks for sharing this with us .
I think adding some scales and adjustment screws might make this more usefull. If you know anything about fusion you should be able to put togeter an ax geometry calculator so you can get the settings and a model of the ax. If you’d like help with that let me know.
Probably some sort of spark deflector would be good so it's not blowing all that abrasive grinding dust onto the shaft and those bushings. I could see the whole thing getting floppy over time otherwise.
I would add set pins to the joints on the swivel/adjustment arm joints, to ensure that if the screw comes loose you don't lose your set position. I.E. after perfecting the adjustment, drill a small hole next to the pivot screw to insert another screw or pin to lock it in place.
The vise that you used in this video seems to need quite a bit of revamping in order to not let things slip so easily. I mean, it’s been that way for years. How come you don’t fix the jaws?
Brilliant. I think it might be a good idea to put a cover or deflector above the two shafts that the bushes slide on. Otherwise over the long term the pitting of the shaft could damage the bushes or size on there
I think to help with keeping the blade cool, adding a set screw system to allow for the bottom hinge point to articulate between the point needed for grinding and a run of water hung off the side of the axe grinding arm?
Awesome clever contraption 👍 I think you could possibly remove one segment of the articulated thingy (and possibly make one of the remain ones a touch lomger) and still keep the same level of adjustability with one bolt less to manage. Anyway, you probably won't fully retune this everydayn so might no be worth the time invested to change this 😅
Rotation stops on either side so you can stop grinding precisely. By over-rotating your ax head past the sides of the belt, you are rounding the points at the top and bottom of the cutting edge....
Timothy, great work as always. Hey! Do you know if any 'Alone' participants have ever used one of your hatchets or axes for their time on the show? Btw: I like this format of video you're doing now.
I would say that the belt caving in as you push the axe's edge to it can introduce a lot of variability. There are two approaches that come to mind: 1. You're fine with a constant bevel profile and thus you create a specific platen behind the belt (flat or concave). 2. You want the belt flex for a flexible method of edge grinding but want finely controlled "feed", so you add an adjuster to the sliding rods (probably a nut or something) to limit how much the axe mount feeds into the belt.
