QUORN

TOOL AND CUTTER GRINDER

by D. H. Chaddock, C.B.E.
SOON AFTER the acquisition of one’s first lathe it
is very soon realised that the beautiful turning
tools bought from the shop do not last for ever and
that it is essential to have some means of sharpen-
ing them. An early exercise for most of us there-
fore is the construction of a piece of apparatus,
of greater or less crudity, which may or may Fig. 2
not be dignified by the name of a tool grinder.
With increasing experience in the use of a lathe, But in all this there is one fundamental snag,
milling cutters begin to make their appearance seldom mentioned in the glossy literature, and
and in conjunction with a vertical slide, milling that is that whereas it is perfectly possible with
becomes part of the regular workshop routine. practice to sharpen lathe tools by hand, it is not
More advanced workers who acquire a milling so with milling cutters. So the beautiful new cutter
machine such as the Dore-Westbury will which does an excellent job on brass or gunmetal
soon discover that the range of cutters of all sorts is also used for steel. After that brass and gun-
that they have bought, made or “acquired” far metal seem much tougher and the milled surfaces
outnumbers the lathe tools that they possess. acquire a nasty fraze which requires a good deal
of file work to remove. Steel requires more and
more force to be applied to the cutter until
finally it breaks, a new one is bought and the
whole process begins all over again. The answer is
of course that end mills, circular saws and milling

FIG. I.

MODEL ENGINEER 4 January 1974

cutters of all sorts require re-sharpening just as across the face of the grinding wheel and pre-
much as lathe or any other cutting tool if they cision adjusted by micrometer screw and anti-
are to be kept in good condition and to do good backlash spring longitudinally over a range of
work. 1/2 in.
It was this experience that finally convinced The WORKHEAD BASE can be clamped in
the writer that a cutter grinder was an essential any position to the front horizontal bar and its
adjunct to the home workshop if effective use angular position set by the ROCKING LEVER,
was to be made of the Dore-Westbury light which not only provides an accurate positive stop
vertical milling machine with which it has been when the workhead is rocked, but also enables it
recently equipped. Now while there are excellent to be precision adjusted over a range of 1/2 in. at
cutter grinders commercially available they are the mandrel centre line, before the front bar
expensive - more expensive than the average is positively locked. The workhead base carries the
lathe with which a model engineer’s workshop is TILTING (BRACKET, which is adjustable by a
equipped. Furthermore there are also tool grinders pointer reading against a graduated scale over
- equally desirable but equally expensive. It a range of 30 deg. either side of vertical. It
seemed therefore that there was a need for a enables accurate side and front rake to be given
machine which would not only sharpen all the to both sharp-cornered and radiuscd tools and
cutters normally used with a light milling machine cutters. Used in conjunction with the swinging
but would also sharpen lathe tools, drills, reamers headstock, radiused tools with compound geo-
and taps at precision preset angles. For good mea- metry, i.e. 7 deg. side rake, 5 deg. front rake,
sure it should also be simply adaptable to thread can be ground in a single continuous pass.
and cam grinding and be capable of being made The tilting bracket supports the calibrated
in a workshop equipped with a 3-1/2 in. lathe, with ROTATING BASE, which has full 360 deg.
some help perhaps in light milling carried out in rotation. It can be freely rotated between AD-
the lathe or on a milling machine. JUSTABLE STOPS for radiusing or locked at
Such was the specification of the QUORN any pre-set angle for grinding taper and angular
Universal Tool and Cutter Grinder. An interest- cutters and tool faces.
ing design exercise resulted in the general arrange- The rotating base supports the SWINGING
ment drawing shown in Fig. 1 and the construc- HEADSTOCK which, by displacing the centre
tion of a prototype machine shown in Fig. 2. line of the mandrel from the centre line of the
It is designed around the use of three bars of rotating base, enables tools and cutters to be
precision ground round mild steel connected to- corner radiused as well as ball noses to be ground.
gether by two iron castings which combine to A removable SETTING PIN enables the two
give the machine strength, accuracy, rigidity, and axes and the work to be brought into any desired
freedom from distortion on a three-point support. relationship with one another.
The vertical column at the rear carries the A unique and patented feature of the QUORN
WHEELHEAD which is universally adjustable Tool Cutter and Grinder is the TRAVERSING
for height and horizontal angle and which, after MANDREL. By using HOBS of suitable pitch
it has been clamped to the vertical column, can the numbers of start of thread, spiral fluted end
be fine adjusted by micrometer screws over a mills and slot drills down to l/16 in. dia. or less
vertical height of 1 in. The wheelhead is bored can be accurately and reliably ground and backed
to receive a standard 1-3/8 in. diam. grinding spindle off without resetting. The hob engages an adjust-
quill at the front, and at the rear carries a self- able GUIDE PIN and STOP BAR, which en-
contained fractional horsepower electric motor. able the flutes on the cutter to be brought into
The complete wheelhead is reversible on the accurate relationship to the grinding wheel. By
column to enable side or periphery of the grind- using fluted hobs, change wheels etc. as tem-
ing wheels to be presented to the work in the porary division plates, a wide range of side and
most convenient position. face cutters, form cutters, circular saws and shell
The R E A R HORIZONTAL B A R connecting mills may be gulleted, ground and backed-off at
the two end castings and the vertical column are a single setting, By using hobs of suitable pitch,
all permanently bonded together with Loctite. e.g. 20 T.P.I. threads can be ground on plain
The rear horizontal bar also acts as a datum shank cutters to make them usable in screw
face for the workhead both in making fine adjust- shank collets such as the Clarkson AUTOLOCK.
ments and as the rear shear when the workhead For larger cutters a TOOTH REST can be used,
is traversed. which is attached to the vertical column, is uni-
The FRONT HORIZONTAL BAR carrying versally adjustable for height and position and
the workhead can be rocked to traverse work can be set to the face or periphery of wheels of

20 MODEL ENGINEER 4 January 1974

any diameter. It can be used inverted if, in certain ings it is desirable to decide upon and obtain
operations, this gives a better view of the work. the material which will be used for the front and
By replacing the headstock spigot by a BAR rear horizontal bars and for the vertical column
B E D and TAILSTOCK, long reamers, taps and as shown in Fig. 3, and to use the actual bars
cutters can be ground between centres using themselves, or pieces cut from them, as gauges
either the tooth rest or a mandrel hob to index in machining the castings. Centreless ground round
the work. In this case the workhead is not mild steel is ideal and although it can normally
clamped to the horizontal bars but slides upon be obtained in 13 in. lengths M.E. suppliers will
them as shears. The rotating head enables tapered no doubt be able to lay in a stock of the only
reamers and die sinking cutters to be ground three sizes required, namely 5/8 in, 1 in. and 1-1/4 in.
along their length. dia. and supply the requisite cut lengths for the
By leaving the headstock free to rock on its machine. Silver steel is of course a perfectly ade-
spigot and using a RADIAL HOB or MASTER quate alternative but in these sizes very much
CAM on the mandrel and a FOLLOWER attach- more expensive. Failing ground stock of any
ed to the bar bed, cams can be ground and form sort a perfectly satisfactory machine could be
cutters relieved. assembled from ordinary bright drawn mild steel,
Finally, by using radial and helical hobs in particularly if care were taken to select pieces
conjunction, taps and hobs can be thread re- which were free from blemish or damage and they
lieved and fluteless tap forms generated. were given a preliminary lapping to correct any
By replacing the traversing mandrel by a irregularity or out of roundness. Only advanced
TOOL HOLDER a wide variety of internal and workers with sophisticated workshop facilities
external lathe tools, square and round shank, can would want to contemplate case hardened, nitrided
be accurately ground to preset angles for side, or chill cast bars ground and lapped to size which,
front, top and back rake. Accurate radii perfectly however desirable they might be for commercial
blended with straight edges at any angle can be work, need not concern the amateur.
produced on form and screwing tools. Female Whichever material is going to be used, there-
radii can be ground by using the workhead with a fore, the first step is to prepare the front and rear
DIAMOND or CRUSHER in the toolhead to bars and the vertical column, Fig. 3. The
trim a suitable grinding wheel to shape and then former are very simple, merely 12 in. or 13 in.
using it to form-grind the tool. lengths of 1 in. dia. round stock. For neatness the
Before commencing to machine the base cast- ends can be faced flat and chamfered by setting

COLUMN I OFF I-1/4 DIA GROUND M.S.

FACE FLAT W’OUT 13/32‘ DIA HOLE
PIP OR CENTRE F L A T BOTTOMED-

0
--_-_-_-_-___-___-_-_-----------
__-------_
r--------T

~L;;A$yP;,oP;;12
3/s’
k-2v2’ .’

bJ
I c
-.-_-_-_____. ____-_-_-_---- pm-_-. -..-

FRONT AND REAR BARS I OFF EACH 1" DIA GROUND MS.

FIG. 3.

MODEL ENGINEER 4 January 1974 21

 1-1/4" NOMINAL PLUS .003" DRlLL 9/32" DIA BY 1-1/8" DEEP 1”DIA NOMINAL PLUS
FOR COLUMN C’BORE 5/16" DIA BY 5/8" DEEP .003” FOR R E A R B A R
S P O T F A C E 5/8" DIA

FRONT BAR
BASE L.H. I OFF CI
SPOT FACE BASE R.H. I OFF CI
1-1/2" DIA

FIG. 4.

one end of the bar to run true in a four-jaw should be flat bottomed to provide a fair seating
chuck and supporting the far end in a fixed steady. for the spring.
A digression here to mention that many workers The vertical column 1-1/4 in. dia. by 11 in. long
when they do this find that even when securely with the ends faced flat and chamfered is also
gripped the bar tends to work out of the chuck shown in the general arrangement and detail
jaws. The reason that it does so is because the drawing Fig. 3 with a quick start thread, which
end supported by the fixed steady, even if it will terrify most amateurs and many professionals
appears to be running true, is not in fact truly in too. Straight away let us say that it is optional;
line with the lathe mandrel axis. It is the resulting the machine will function perfectly without it.
orbital motion which causes the work, as it re- Its only purpose is to provide an easy means of
volves, to creep out of the chuck. With centred height adjustment and in the event that the wheel-
work the tailstock, always assuming that it is head clamp should be slackened without first
true, can be used to check the alignment, but bars taking the weight, to prevent it dropping to the
cut from stock will at this stage have no centres. bottom of the column. For those who like a little
The way to check alignment is therefore to mount luxury and are prepared to put in the effort to
a dial test indicator on the tool-post and by mov- achieve it, the job can be perfectly well accom-
ing the lathe saddle back and forth to adjust plished on a 3-1/2 in. lathe and some notes will be
the jaws of the fixed steady until there is no given later as to how it can be done.
movement, back to front, or up and down in the Having prepared the three bars, a start can now
length of the bar. If you can get it to 0.001 in. be made on machining the right and left base
in 1 ft. both ways you are not doing badly. castings as shown in Fig. 4, which connect them
The front bar needs a little more attention. together and form the basic foundation of the
At one end it should be faced as flat as possible. machine. The castings are too large to swing
without pip or centre-hole because this face will even in the gap of a 3-1/2 in. lathe although if a
be the anvil against which the micrometer adjust- larger lathe were available they could be clamped
ment screw will work. Posh workers can lap it to an angle plate mounted on the faceplate and
flat but good clean facing will suffice. At the the holes bored in the time honoured way that
other end the bar is drilled 2-1/2 in. deep by 13/32 "Live Steamers” bore their cylinder blocks.
in. dia. to accommodate the anti-backlash spring.
No great precision is required here but the hole To be continued.

22 MODEL ENGINEER 4 January 1974