who makesna knock off Makita horzontal waterstone sharpeners?i

[Mike Allen1010]

I've had a Makita 9820for 30 years and it finally gave up thaw ghost. I made some lexan plates that thread right over the water stone surface and I use different grunt abrasives to sharpen, particularly small carving tools. Anyone know where I coulg get a copy of the Makita? Not sure it their still available, but I don,t need the accessory for thru jointer\planner blades -just the basic motorized wheel. Any thoughts or suggestions are much app existed. Thanks, Mike

[Roger Nair]

Highland Hardware has the Makita for $380. I know that Grizzly had a knock-off in the past, I don't know if it's in the current line up. I have the Makita and like you would not like losing a flat stone wet grinder.

[george wilson]

Harbor Freight MIGHT sell a similar grinder. I THINK I have seen one advertised by them,but I could easily be wrong. I don't know if your parts would fit it,even if they do sell a horizontal grinder.

[Mike Wilkins]

Woodworkers Supply has one; but the paint job is different. That may affect your decision, but not the function.

[ian maybury]

Hi guys. This is off topic and I can't help with your query, but i've looked enviously at those Makita wet grinders a few times and would appreciate hearing your views on their capability.

Are they capable of shifting reasonable amounts of material with some speed? e.g. could you reasonably use one to put on a primary bevel a plane blade with the 60 grit wheel? Does the wheel require much dressing to stay flat?

My inclination would be to mount a horizontal platform flush with the plane of the wheel so that I could use a honing guide - and then transfer directly to waterstones without removing the blade from the guide for fine finishing with or without a micro bevel. I have a Tormek with standard wheel, but find it on the slow side and anyway don't want to hollow grind.

[george wilson]

I used to have one. It had a pretty fine stone,not one that I would want to try making a new bevel with. The only problem I had with mine was the foam ring that keeps the stone from slinging water,would eventually get used to being in the hole around the housing,and would slip down below the height of the stone,allowing water and crud to be slung over it. Not a big deal though. A few slips of paper on the outside of the foam ring would cure it for a while.

I don't know if a coarser stone is available. I had mine back in the 70's(or so). Haven't fooled with one since. I like the Tormek better. The horizontal stone might be easier for some use.

[John Coloccia]

Why are you looking for a copy? I think Makita still makes one.

[Brian Thornock]

I am not aware of anyone making a knock off. I've got one that has been collecting dust ever since bought a planer with disposable knives that won't fit the jig with the 240 and 1000 grit wheels. As for how I like it, it is great for sharpening jointer and planer knives, but I never used it for more than that. It is well made and I like the concept, it just never really caught on with me.

[Bill White]

Mine has been in use for over 30 years. There is a coarse stone, a green stone, and a fine stone available.
The one I have has a hard plastic ring/shield that will trap most of the water and slurry from grinding.
Check Highland. I know that they are a big Tormek dealer, but I remember seeing Makita there as well.
Bill

[Mike Allen1010]

[QUOTE=ian maybury;2313709]Hi guys. This is off topic and I can't help with your query, but i've looked enviously at those Makita wet grinders a few times and would appreciate hearing your views on their capability.

Are they capable of shifting reasonable amounts of material with some speed? e.g. could you reasonably use one to put on a primary bevel a plane blade with the 60 grit wheel? Does the wheel require much dressing to stay flat?

hi Ian,

I used to use my Mikita horizontal whetstone sharpener for grinding primary bevels but it is really, really slow with the coarsest wheel I have - brown in color, I think of 1,000 grit. A regular electric 8" bench grinder is what I use now and it is much faster.

I still use the Makita for sharpening carving tools and really small chisels I don't want to put on the water stones. I have some shop made laminated Lexan, circular plates with a bolt captured in between that screws into the central locking hole. I put abrasive paper on these and it's great for final polishing/sharpening of the irregularly shaped edge tools.

I'm looking for the knockoff because the Makita cost $380 and I think much of the cost is in the sliding steel guide for sharpening jointer/planer blades, which I don't need.

Cheers, Mike

[ian maybury]

Thanks George. As Bill suggests there's a coarse 60 grit stone available for the Makita - guess I'm wondering if anybody knows if it cuts with any speed on that set up as if so it'd be a nice safe way (re. the risk of overheating) of doing primary bevels.

My guess is that it may not be that fast, as it runs at about 580 rpm which is similar to a WorkSharp - which does a nice job on the top of the disc of regrinding bevels on chisels on 80 grit, but can be very slow changing bevel angles on on thicker and wider plane blades. I've been using diamond discs as some of the other guys, and they run nice and cool and last better than paper based abrasive - but they still wear out pretty quickly on more heavy duty jobs. I also have a disc sander set up to run horizontally, but it gets a bit risky re. the possibility of accidentally burning the steel as the bevel starts to get thin - it needs a lot of care. I've been switching back to the Work Sharp at that stage.

Perhaps there's no quick, safe and cheap option...

PS thanks for that too Mike - our posts crossed. Wonder how the Makita does on primary bevels on a 60 grit wheel?

[John Coloccia]

I'm looking for the knockoff because the Makita cost $380 and I think much of the cost is in the sliding steel guide for sharpening jointer/planer blades, which I don't need.

Cheers, Mike

Considering that it's still made, I wonder what they'd say if you called them up and asked them for help? Perhaps they could fix it or repair what's broken pretty cheaply?