New Accu-Finish owner questions

[ISEN AG]

Ended up getting a very good eBay deal this weekend on an older Accu-Finish Series I (AF-811) in pristine condition which finally showed up today. For the owners of these machines I had a few questions:

• Mine came with a 600 grit wheel. Is it better to purchase original Accu-Finish wheels (pricy) or do you get acceptable results with other options such as a backing plate & the Chinese lapping discs?
• What wheels are recommended for sharpening carbide scrapers and touching up lathe tools? (260, 600, 1200, finer?)
• Any general maintenance I need to keep this thing in good running condition?
• Has anyone added a Foward/Reverse switch to these?
• Anything else I need to be aware of?

Appreciate the feedback

 

[Richard King]

It's 12 AM here, s I'll make this short. I have a series 1 & 2. If I were you I would buy a 260, (600) and 1200 and if you want a 2500. I usually buy the Glendo wheels, but have tested the Glendo type on eBay and those thin engraving Chinese one. They work ok. If you buy from Glendo the have a green stick you can clean the wheels with. Glendo told me using toothpaste, a brush and hot water works good too. I use WD-40 or a lube spray to wet the wheel. Also set the table angle high toward you, not down. Be sure to used the entire with of the wheel face too. I have owned my # 1 for 20 years and have only had to change the wheels and tighten the legs. One thing that sometimes happens, the students forget to turn it off. You should buy a cheap electrical demagnetizer too. bed time....

 

[ISEN AG]

Appreciate the info Mr. King.

One last question for your is what is the best way to contact you to purchase a copy of your usb/dvd. I inquired via PM here awhile back but never got a response. Believe it might have been around the time of your surgery.

 

[Gard]

I used one years ago that had a forward/reverse switch, I don't remember the model name but the switch was OEM. I found it helpful.
Check on ebay for the usb.

 

[TGTool]

Appreciate the info Mr. King.

One last question for your is what is the best way to contact you to purchase a copy of your usb/dvd. I inquired via PM here awhile back but never got a response. Believe it might have been around the time of your surgery.

Ebay is one fast option
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1741425113...bXPsea/C09LULAb3wh0y/S5dVkIR|tkp:BFBMpNzmzs9i

 

[Conrad Hoffman]

We've had ours about 20 years and are still using the same disks. Probably time to replace them. We use 600 for most everything and a coarse one with wavy grooves when we need more bite. We have a 1200 and ceramic wheel with diamond spray that we only occasionally use. The only maintenance we've ever done is keeping it clean and dry. Keep water out of the table slot and put some oil or grease on the bolt that holds the disks. It's beyond my comprehension they don't make these anymore.

 

[Richard King]

I used one years ago that had a forward/reverse switch, I don't remember the model name but the switch was OEM. I found it helpful.
Check on ebay for the usb.

Email me - [email protected] - I'm selling a DVD and USB stick for the same price now. I'll give the PM members a deal.. email me.

 

[EmGo]

It's beyond my comprehension they don't make these anymore.

I have thought about this recently, and it's kinda weird.

First off, never had an accu but loved the leonard lap and prefer it, the base is heavier and the oscillating feature is great, I used it all the time.

But as you say, they aren't made now. That's why when I saw those kinda cheapy little portable sharpeners I was a bit excited. Here's something can get new for not much money and it'd be especially useful for home shop people.

Wrong. The people who were interested were guys who knew what they were doing. The home shop guys who really should be using high speed and positive rake and sharpening their own stuff are buying cnmg's and switching inserts because they don't know any better and aren't especially interested in learning. They just want to come here and ask, "What's the best insert for my 1/4 hp 6" lathe ?" and they really don't want to hear "No insert, idiot. Learn to sharpen a tool."

So. Maybe that's why there's no accufinish or leonard lap beng made. No buyers except a few old farts.

 

[Richard King]

We've been discussing this subject for years. Here is one from 2016. I was told this years ago. If you want to see subjects about the years of discussion on here Search on Google. I just typed in "Glendo Alternatatives Practical Machinist" 6 old threads came up, this is the oldest.

Glendo Accu Finish diamond wheel alternatives

Picked up a Accu finish series II which i'm in love with and now I've come to a point where I want to order new wheels but before spending the serious coin on the original wheels i'd like to explore other cheaper alternatives. Glendo sells aluminum wheel blanks that fit the machine and are well...

www.practicalmachinist.com

 

[rycam]

set the table angle high toward you, not down

Hi, I was searching accu-finish tips and saw this note about the table angle, but can't find any description of why to point the table down into the wheel? That's different than the manual/instructions or "normal" setup table angle, correct? Is anyone familiar with this tip?

 

[Richard King]

The Glendo instructions are written for laping lathe tool bits not scraper blades. When you have it up near you and you lay the blade on it you spray coolant or WD 40 to wet the wheel as the wheel turns the liquid peels off on the top of the blade. When it doesn’t peel off then you know it isn't hitting the correct angle. 5 degrees for regular cast iron. Or the blade should look like a hip roof <=== or 2 sides sharp. Sharpen one side then flip it over and lap the other side. If the wheel is turning counter clockwise you lay the blade on the left side of the table. DAPRA.COM sells a "control gage or radius gage and it has a 1" square hole in it for counting PPI. If you have the angle low toward you then you can't see the liquid peel off. The pic from that Connelly book shows how the blade edge should be. It's from hand lapping but it's the same as a Glendo.

 

[Richard King]

The part to the left of the Glendo. Is a demagnitizer. As sharpening the blades the carbide gets magnetic.

 

[TGTool]

The practice is so that the wheel with abrasive is cutting down towards the cutting edge...With a scraper blade using a negative angle (that is, an obtuse angle between the cutting face and flat of the blade) a tool rest tilted down at the back will be dressing the lower cutting edge. (There are two cutting edges, remember) If the table is tilted up at the back, down into the wheel, the abrasive will be sharpening the upper cutting edge.

In the first instance, particles of carbide may be torn or chipped from the edge since carbide is weakest in tension. With the table tilted down towards the wheel the abrasive at the edge keeps the forces in compression and less likely to pull out particles that would compromise the cutting edge.

I've also seen advice, from Carbide Bob I believe, that when lapping, you should do the opposite so the slurry building up at the cutting edge doesn't round over the sharp edge.

 

[JST]

I found the 300 grit to make scratches that telegraphed through when scraping. Going up to the 1000 (maybe it's a 1200) cut that down considerably.

My Accu-finish is so old they don't even admit they made it... They told me that they never made the one I have, despite their name on it (I sent them a picture as proof). They likely just do not have records that far back.

The machines work very well, but may not be able to be made at a profit now. They were expensive even many years ago.

 

[Richard King]

I used to sell them and I got 20% off until they stopped making them. I now get a discount on the wheels that they still sale. They told me the reason they stopped making them was their motor source in Taiwan stopped making them. They still make the one direction engraver that the wheel face vertically. I just bought a 260 grit wheel for roughing, 600 grit for med. finish and a 1200 grit for finish. When I see them at online auctions I buy them. I bought a # 2 a few months ago for $550.00 and sold it for 2800.00 what they were selling for. One of my students used some 2500 diamond lapping paste on an aluminum disk..I think it was TCtool..and it was as sharp as a Sanvik blade. I think Forrest Addy suggested it. I find the 1200 works well.

 

[TGTool]

I used to sell them and I got 20% off until they stopped making them. I now get a discount on the wheels that they still sale. They told me the reason they stopped making them was their motor source in Taiwan stopped making them. They still make the one direction engraver that the wheel face vertically. I just bought a 260 grit wheel for roughing, 600 grit for med. finish and a 1200 grit for finish. When I see them at online auctions I buy them. I bought a # 2 a few months ago for $550.00 and sold it for 2800.00 what they were selling for. One of my students used some 2500 diamond lapping paste on an aluminum disk..I think it was TCtool..and it was as sharp as a Sanvik blade. I think Forrest Addy suggested it. I find the 1200 works well.

That was a Chinese carbide grinder that I modified. The green wheels that came with it I thought were just above worthless so I modified it to put a diamond wheel on one end and a cast iron lap on the other. It an ideal world it would run a little slower, but it does a perfectly good job of roughing and finishing. The table castings are a little rough, but if you're not resetting them frequently it's not much irritation. And on the other hand, the top surfaces are finished and they've got a slot for a miter gauge so you can do lathe tools to correct angles.