Quorn tooling grinder questions

I bet if you ask this on uk.rec.models.engineering you will find a dozen or more users of the Quorn.

Adam Smith Midland ON

Here's a general guide on endmill resharpening. Very well written.

There's a Yahoo group for this. Randy

Will do, thank you!

capable

twist

welcome.

Internet.

Dave,

Yes a very capable machine - I have one. They were originally described in a series of articles in Model Engineer, kits are still available as is the book "The Quorn Universal Tool and Cutter Grinder" by Prof Chaddock published by Tee publishing ISBN 0 905 100 91 3 which covers the building and use of the machine. There are two very similar models - the Mk1 & the Mk2

There is a yahoo group for quorn owners called quorn_owners and I can conform it has nothing to do with the meat substitute that I can remember suffering when times were hard when we bought our first house, but rather is named afeter the village in Derbyshire where Prof Chaddock lived !

AWEM

Dave,

I built one in the mid '80 and can vouch for its usefulness and VERSATILITY!

In my experience the standard equipment is suitable for sharpening/ grinding all cutting tools in the model engineers workshop: I've sharpened dove-tail cutters to meet an existing 60 degree angle work piece (slightly off 60 deg.!) 4 and 6 flute end mills on the sides and ends, threading tool bits for acme and worm threads, etc.

Because it is such a versatile little machine the individual set-ups can be tedius....I collect dull endmills of a given size and then have a production run of sharpening.

The standard work holding mandrel works well for endmills up to 3/8" dia. For 1/2" dia. and larger an air bearing spindle would be a great help (I don't have one yet, it's high on my to-do list). The larger dia. work holding mandrels have too much friction which overcomes the "touchy-feely" necessary to keep the cutter flute on the tooth rest while pulling on the mandrel and rotating the cutter....3 simultaneous requirements!

Getting a copy of the instruction book is probably the best way to go. If, after reading it you still have questions, just post them on this NG. Good luck!

Wolfgang

Which version is described in that book? Mk1 or Mk2 or both, or are the Mk's different to the one in the book? And what's the difference between the two, please.

I'm interested in the Quorn since longer, but it seems that there are more than one version around and I don't know which one is the best (read: most versatile).

TIA, Nick

As the others have mentioned, Get the Book!

The Quorn was designed to not only resharpen cutters, but to be used to make cutters in small sizes that were not available at the time. The book covers setups very well, and pretty much gives the step by step of setting up for a myriad of sharpening jobs.

It pretty much qualifies as gross overkill, capabilities wise, if all you wanted to do was sharpen a few drills and endmills.

I know that you bought yours, but one comment that I have seen in print read along the lines of "If you are not a competent machinist when you start building this tool, you will be by the time it's done"

Cheers Trevor Jones

Absolutely. Hoping to find it, actually. This was built by my uncle, who unfortunately I can't ask technical questions of at this time. But he must have had the books when he built and used it, but there's tons (literally) of books to go through.

I found an article from 1976 by Chaddock, talking about sharpening center drills with it. So that's my first setup then, I think, given that it's the only actual instructions I have so far

Right now, I don't know enough about it to know how much I don't know about it.

It's a beautiful piece of work, I'll tell you that. So, yes, I don't get the benefit of making one, but hopefully my background in maths will help me understand how to use it.

Thanks, Dave

IIRC the Mk2 has a head support column that is spiral grooved for ease of height adjustment, and a cast aluminium cover over the drice belt. The two versions though can prettywell do the same tasks.

If you go to the quorn_user Yahoo group and look in the photos section you will see several of each. Don't forget that they were never commercially produced, all were made by hobbyists many of whom incorporated their own ideas.

AWEM

Direct quotes from the book.

"The principle difference betwwen the Mk I and the Mk II wheelheads is the method of mounting the driving motor. By using a flat adapter plate bolted to the machined end of the Mk I wheelhead bracket casting, any suitable motor can be readily mounted on the Quorn grinder"

and

"This version of the machine, known as the Mk II and shown in Fig. 1, is functionally interchangeable with the Mk I and both will be described in detail in this book. Of the two the Mk II is certainly the neater and in this writers opinionthe better looking. On the other hand, the Mk I is the more versatile in that it will accept a wider range of suitable motors; the Mk II is designed for one specific motor only and, subject to not exceeding a safe wheel speed, a wider range of pulley ratios."

They both utilise the spiral thread on the column to adjust wheel height.

Motor specified for the MkII is a Parvalux S.D.13 2800 rpm 1/6 hp single phase permanent capacitor motor made by Parvalux Elecric Motors Ltd, Bournmouth, England

Howzat?

Cheers Trevor Jones

That explains it all. Thanks a lot for your answer!

Nick

Excellent, thanks.

Hey Dave,

Hope it does help, and I'd love to get a Quorn at a reasonable price to play with.

And a word of explanation...I have NO idea what happened, but I wrote that reply right when the question was posed way back when, and for some unknown reason (at least to me) when I did a "Send Now" it never got "sent", but went to some other "place" to await me stumbling upon it by doing a computer shut-down. Sorry 'bout that.

Take care.

Brian.