Bought a USB joypad at a garage sale

Yes, good point. I have no clue what sort of equipment shaeprns end mills, or how their ends (square, ball) are resharpened.

i

Ignoramus28874 fired this volley in news:bOudnWH4O8XLqPTRnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Me... I'm saving up for a Darex.

LLoyd

It's one of the few good things the gov't has invested in.

-- Invest in America: Buy a CONgresscritter today!

Not unless your buddies with Art. My point was that Mach3 is sufficiently "open" to allow you to do pretty much anything you need to do to customize it for a particular purpose, including customize it to support your commercial product, and the ability to perform that customization is "free". I don't buy into the idea that the fruits of your (or in this case Art's) many hours of labor should be "free" for anyone to do with as they please. I believe that those who invest the effort to develop that code certainly have a right to expect to be compensated for the use of it. I'll also note that the only limitation in the demo version of Mach3 is that it is limited to ~1,000 lines of G-code and Art has posted on the support forums that if your application works with that limitation you are free to continue to use the demo version.

Harbor Freight has / had a decent looking cutter grinder, but I can't seem to find it on their new web site. That doesn't necessarily mean they no longer carry it.

========== How much do you want to spend? Given that you like to "roll your own"

For small volume see

new store bought complete

?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=426245

-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

I do not really mind any of that, but personally I prefer free stuff and I release a lot of things under the GPL myself. That is why I am so happy with EMC2.

i

Darex what? Like this one?

I am just trying to understand the basics of it, so if I come across something at an auction, I will know what to look for.

i

Item #46727

Nope, that's not it. That's just a tool bit grinder, not a universal cutter grinder. The one HF had was ~$750 or so regular price (add your

20% coupon of course). The grinders that handle rotary cutters like end mills are a *lot* more complex than grinders that handle lathe bits and the like.

I found it in an older catalog, it was item 45707 "Universal cutter grinder" for $649.99

is a programmable jog. I use one to edit video.

KO Lee B300 with the proper setup or Darex E90 endmill sharpener. The Darex will fit on a table top. The B300 is bigger, but not that big, however it does require about a 36"x36" bit of floor space.

You have a surface grinder? Then there are a host of other fixtures for shapening endmills.

Gunner

"A conservative who doesn't believe? in God simply doesn't pray; a godless liberal wants no one to pray. A conservative who doesn't like guns doesn't buy one; a liberal gun-hater wants to disarm us all. A gay conservative has sex his own way; a gay liberal requires us all to watch and accept his perversion and have it taught to children. A conservative who is offended by a radio show changes the station; an offended liberal wants it banned, prosecuted and persecuted." Bobby XD9

Ignoramus28874 fired this volley in news:iPGdnRPvq9yqzvTRnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Yep. That's it. It has an air bearing spindle that allows a bit to follow a "tracer finger" so the flutes are re-ground precisely. Of course, it will reduce the diameter of the bit, but quite reliably and accurately.

The Darex is sort of the "Cadillac" of end mill sharpeners. I find them used, but in good condition, on Ebay for about $1400.

LLoyd

That's pricey, makes regrinding not economical on my scale. And the Darex probably does not do ball ends, or even plunge cutting square ends, right?

i

Ignoramus28874 fired this volley in news:AdWdnY1sc_5eC_TRnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

My understanding is that it will do every profile.

It's pricey, yes, but you can find them cheaper if you get lucky.

LLoyd

Darex is the low end of end mill sharpeners. Seriously. Cuttermaster (which Darex copied), Harig, KO Lee and others are the middle of the road.

accesories)

However.,.that does not mean the Darex wont do a perfectly good job. I have one somewhere...I think its still in my cargo container. Ill have to dig it out next trip to LA and offer it up here.

Gunner

"A conservative who doesn't believe? in God simply doesn't pray; a godless liberal wants no one to pray. A conservative who doesn't like guns doesn't buy one; a liberal gun-hater wants to disarm us all. A gay conservative has sex his own way; a gay liberal requires us all to watch and accept his perversion and have it taught to children. A conservative who is offended by a radio show changes the station; an offended liberal wants it banned, prosecuted and persecuted." Bobby XD9

This will work for you.

Then there are....

offer no more than $1000)

"A conservative who doesn't believe? in God simply doesn't pray; a godless liberal wants no one to pray. A conservative who doesn't like guns doesn't buy one; a liberal gun-hater wants to disarm us all. A gay conservative has sex his own way; a gay liberal requires us all to watch and accept his perversion and have it taught to children. A conservative who is offended by a radio show changes the station; an offended liberal wants it banned, prosecuted and persecuted." Bobby XD9

Gunner Asch fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Sigh... Worn, old, no collets, need new stones, none likely to have the precision they were originally built with.

Y'know... when I go to sharpen an end mill, I want it to be "factory new", except for the diameter, when it comes out of the machine.

What I don't want to do is spend yet another year re-building another piece of old junk. I really want to spend my time machining parts.

I've used a Cincy... too much learnin' to do to make an even passable job. It's WAY too complex for the "casual sharpener".

I've used a Cutter Master... it's about the same functionally as the Darex, but WAY more expensive for one in the same condition.

The Darex E90 can be had in "almost new" condition for about 1/4 what a similar-condition Cutter Master can. And despite it's "low end" status in your book, the Darex offers the same precision and longevity for a lot less money.

And Gunner... the first two "almost kits" you listed... what's that for? You can't sharpen _anything_ on them 'til you build the rest of the machine. It takes a bed. It takes a motor, it takes a cup stone, it...

takes some really long "building up" to get where I'd want to be with a milling cutter grinder. Some people work, and some people only do machining in their "spare" time.

LLoyd