Uneven belly facets with Lindsay template

[TNouneh]

Hello everyone,
I’m a beginner engraver and I’m having an issue getting even belly facets with my Lindsay template. I’m sharpening c-max gravers with the 105° template, and one facet keeps coming out at a steeper angle than the other, which is causing one heel to come out tapered while the other on is perfectly parallel. I’ve tried resharpening multiple times at slower speed, counting each stroke and with even pressure, but the problem persists. Is there something I’m missing? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[rweigel]

From my experience with the Lindsay-style templates I designed and built myself, it might be a slight misorientation of the graver blank holder in either the shaping or the facetting template. The facets are sensitive to a fraction of a degree in graver rotation. Or your different grit bench stones are not exactly parallel. Try to use a benchstone turned by 180° and see if the facet changes the misdirection.

My templates have got a fixed graver blank holder in their center which I adjusted in position and rotation carefully to achieve even graver shapes and heels. They are not 100% perfect, but produced servicable gravers that I still use today (changed to GRS dual angle support for sharpening).

Good luck

Ralf

 

[TwoRivers]

I also had that same problem with the Lindsay templates. Which are great That’s all I use. Another thing to remember is that all graver blanks are not the same. Different size‘s that don’t fit Steve’s graver holder squarely . I only use Steve’s graver blanks with the template‘s

Hello everyone,
I’m a beginner engraver and I’m having an issue getting even belly facets with my Lindsay template. I’m sharpening c-max gravers with the 105° template, and one facet keeps coming out at a steeper angle than the other, which is causing one heel to come out tapered while the other on is perfectly parallel. I’ve tried resharpening multiple times at slower speed, counting each stroke and with even pressure, but the problem persists. Is there something I’m missing? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[DaveatWeirs]

The problem may be happening when you're swapping the metal fixture between the main shaping plate (smaller one) and the face and heel plate (large one).
The metal fixture has a tiny bit of play to it and if it gets rotated at all it ends up messing with your heels in the way you described. What I usually do it make sure the part where the pin fits in metal is pushed right up to the metal pin on the plastic plate so that when I tighten the nut on the back it pushes it against it even more. It's not foolproof but it's a good way of keeping everything aligned and repeatable.
If you're finding it happen when you're resharpening you should do some test passes on the face. I normally get it all locked in and do a very very light brush with the 2000 grit plate at 90 degrees to the last grinding so the lines will show. have a look to see if the lines are on the left or right of the face. A slight twist with your hand on the graver shank within the metal fixture will get it to align correctly, keep doing little tests until you get it lined up, and from there do the standard face and heals sharpening.

 

[mtlctr]

Ive had slight variations but not enough to bother the cutting. I must say your bench stones must be identical height. i use a 10x loupe also.

 

[edgrabow15]

Hello everyone,
I’m a beginner engraver and I’m having an issue getting even belly facets with my Lindsay template. I’m sharpening c-max gravers with the 105° template, and one facet keeps coming out at a steeper angle than the other, which is causing one heel to come out tapered while the other on is perfectly parallel. I’ve tried resharpening multiple times at slower speed, counting each stroke and with even pressure, but the problem persists. Is there something I’m missing? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I had a similar problem and after a close study of everything you notice the C Max blanks are a tiny bit smaller than the Lindsey blanks, if you put each one in and after tightening the set screw grab each by the tip and move it back & forth. You will see that the CMax moves back & forth a tiny bit and the Lindsey is tight with no movement @ all. When placing the graver on the stone , especially a power home it will push to one side & than the other causing the exact problem your talking about. I made a small wedge out of a broken graver that I slide in with the new blank or even to touch up the tip. It goes between the blank & the set screw .when you tighten up the set screw it wedges the CMax & other brands of blanks in tight and you get a perfect point every time. I keep the wedge with the measuring tube so it's always available. It's an easy fix. I put some pictures in showing the shape of it, then where I insert it , push it all the way in & tighten the screw. I cut a notch in the measuring tube so it fit around the wedge. Hope the pictures are clear enough for you to understand what I did. It takes only an extra second to set up but it comes out perfect every time. Good Luck.