Tormek SE-77 Jig

[ken hatch]

Tormek has improved the SE-76 jig. The old SE-76 worked well but if for any reason your cutter did not grind square there was no adjustment to square the grind. The new SE-77 addresses that problem and brings in additional capabilities such as grinding cambers and makes it easier to grind irons with out of square sides like some older chisel and plane irons, and it can hold many Japanese chisels as well.


By adjusting two outside screws you can adjust the grind to square but even better if you loosen the two screws you can grind a camber on the cutter. How much camber depends on how much you back off each screw. With the screws fully backed off it will not grind a scrub plane camber but does a very nice Jack plane camber and with a slight back off of each screw you can grind to a perfect camber for finish planes.


If you have a Tormek or use Tormek rests and jigs the SE-77 is a great improvement over the SE-76.


Here is a photo of a max camber iron using the SE-77 jig.

372487

The SE-77 jig combined with a 10' CBN wheel makes me want to keep my Tormek.

ken

[Chet R Parks]

Ken, Thanks for posting your results with the SE-77, that's impressive. I purchased the SE-77 several months ago for my T-7 but haven't had a chance to use it yet. The write-up's I read about it sounded good which is why I got it, seeing your results is vary encouraging.
Chet

[ken hatch]

Ken, Thanks for posting your results with the SE-77, that's impressive. I purchased the SE-77 several months ago for my T-7 but haven't had a chance to use it yet. The write-up's I read about it sounded good which is why I got it, seeing your results is vary encouraging.
Chet

Chet,

Maybe I'm slow but it took a little butt scratching to figure out how to work the jig. Not a lot but some. Once the light bulb came on, it is easy. What is nice is setting the jig to neutral, aline the two lines, take a short grind and see if it is grinding square. If it is go for it, if not make a small adjustment and another test. Once or twice you will be square even with old out of parallel firmer chisels.

ken

[Joel Turner]

David Charlesworth has a good overview video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfd-xzOF5sc) on the new jig. As Ken indicated, the ability to have a repeatable process for cambering a blade makes the jig worth the money for a Tormek user.

[Mike Holbrook]

Great info. Ken. The video above is instructive as well. I have been thinking about replacing the LV tool rest on my grinder with the BGM 100 tool rest. I have a Stuart Batty rest that I like but Derek just about has me convinced to use the BGM 100 on the other wheel. You may have convinced me, as it does take a little work to hand grind cambers the way I have been doing it. I have been calculating on a way to mount a BGM 100 high enough on the grinder wheel so there is room to grind larger objects. For instance: a 8.5 lb hewing axe, with 13.5 “ blade, A smaller 4 1/4 lb hewing axe, lots of splitting wedges, froes, scorps, carving axes, drawknives......

I have a very old Tormek. The tool rest on the one I have has too much “play” in it. I do have a few older tool accessories for it, that I might be able to use on a BGM 100.

I have been thinking about buying a 80 grit CBN wheel from Ken Rizza at Woodturners Wonders, just talked to him yesterday. My current coarser wheel is a 180 from D Way. I have been using a Delta Variable speed grinder that I believe is 1/2 HP. I am reading that the 1/2 HP grinders are not designed to turn the heavier CBN wheels. Thinking about a Rikon 1 HP too. I checked into just upgrading my Tormek, but they suggest replacing the arbor and a tool rest upgrade that runs into substantial money.

[Chet R Parks]

Joel, thanks for the link to the David Charlesworth video, it made it easy to understand how to set up the jig. Like I mentioned above I have the jig but haven't used it yet. One of the reasons I hesitate to use it, is because I don't know how you guys hone the edge after grinding. I'm just starting to get the feel of honing freehand with good results so if I put a camber on the blade then I have to not only concentrate on the angle but rotating the blade as well. Is it like everything else just practice or is there another way??? I have the LV and LN scrub planes but since they just basically hog out material I'm not to concerned about the edge being scary sharp but if I put just a vary shallow camber on a blade I think I would want a pretty refined edge. Or am I missing something???
Chet

[Mike Holbrook]

Chet,
The major reason many people grind, hollow grinds, is the resulting hollow makes two ridges at each side of the bevel. It is easier to feel the bevel ridding on those two lines than it is to feel the entire width of a bevel. It takes more skill to grind an entire bevel width than it takes to hand sharpen along the two bevel lines. The issue many have with trying to feel an entire bevel is invariably there is some rocking. The rocking makes a rounded, upward, bevel which just gets worse the more one sharpens on it.

I do not find hand sharpening a cambered blade significantly harder than sharpening a straight bevel. You might do a search on “edge sharpening”, which may also help maintain contact with the bevel.

[Chet R Parks]

Mike, thanks, and I fully understand the convince of the hollow grind. I guess my real question is about the cambered edge. Even if one has just the leading edge and the heel to use as a guide for the angle as you point out with a hollow grinds is it just practicing the rotation of the blade to get the desired degree of honed sharpness on the cambered edge? Maybe it's not as big of a deal as perceived in my mind as it is in reality? I suppose I should stop procrastinating and try it. Thanks again
Chet

[Mike Holbrook]

Chet, I have been grinding cambers by hand on a simple round tool rest. Some posters suggest drawing the camber on a piece of paper or piece of wood and transfering it to the blade being ground, as a guide. I typically start with a new squared blade and just check that I am grinding the bevel the same on either side by placing a square against the blade. I tend to do this even if I draw the camber on the blade I am working anyway. I think the camber is easier to see against the square. The hollow you grind is useful when you resharpen the blade on stones, not so much while it is being ground.

I think you will find it easier to do once you try it. The nice thing about the CBN wheels is you get to see the result of your effort immediately on the blade. It is helpful to have a Tormek jig or the Stuart Batty ones, for setting the angle you want the blade ground at. Then you simply lay the plane iron on the rest, only having to worry about the camber from that point on.

[Chet R Parks]

Mike, thanks for all your help. I pulled out the Tormek today and it's sitting on the bench. I'll give it a go this weekend.
Chet

[Chet R Parks]

I recently purchased 2 Spartan CBN wheels (800 & 1200 grit) made for the Tormek, 10 inch diameter x 2 inch wide from Ken Rizza at Woodturners Wonders. So after practicing with some old plane blades on the CBN wheels I tried the SE-77 jig. Wow, vary impressive with both the CBN wheels and after again reviewing the David C. video above, (thanks Joel) the SE-77. What a great way to dial in a controlled camber or to square up an out of square edge. I only incountered one minor problem and that is the CBN wheels are a true 10 inch diameter and the Tormek "AngleMaster" WM-200 only works up to a 250 MM (9.84") diameter, but a round file lengthening the slot in the gage fixed that real easy. Thanks again Ken for starting this thread and also to Mike for your help in getting this old guy to improve his methodology.
Chet

[ken hatch]

I recently purchased 2 Spartan CBN wheels (800 & 1200 grit) made for the Tormek, 10 inch diameter x 2 inch wide from Ken Rizza at Woodturners Wonders. So after practicing with some old plane blades on the CBN wheels I tried the SE-77 jig. Wow, vary impressive with both the CBN wheels and after again reviewing the David C. video above, (thanks Joel) the SE-77. What a great way to dial in a controlled camber or to square up an out of square edge. I only incountered one minor problem and that is the CBN wheels are a true 10 inch diameter and the Tormek "AngleMaster" WM-200 only works up to a 250 MM (9.84") diameter, but a round file lengthening the slot in the gage fixed that real easy. Thanks again Ken for starting this thread and also to Mike for your help in getting this old guy to improve his methodology.
Chet

Chet,

Thanks, It's good the post helped. The 77 jig plus a CBN wheel fixed most of the things I did not like about the Tormek system. Because I do not grind often it is good to have a grinder that works almost skilless and near brain dead.:o

ken

[David Marcus Brown]

That is a great video by David Charlesworth. I've never heard him speak before. He is such a gentleman.

[Christopher Herzog]

May be biased but I bought the new model. Did not care for it and continue to use the old style.

[Andrew Hughes]

I bought a new t8 that came with the new blade cambering jig and I love it. I have a lot of experience with Tormeks I’ve gone through 3 gray wheels on my 2000 before it was completely wore out.
I really like the newer design of the t8.. I can camber a plane blade and hone on my Shapton 12k with happiness and ease.
Thumbs up here.

[mike stenson]

I've used the tool rest to do this for so long, I hadn't even paid attention to new Tormek jigs. I might have to pick one of these up.

[Bill St Amant]

i mostly use the SE-77 for chisels and block plane blades which makes the SE-77 less useful than the old style. I may be missing something but the SE-77 doesn't have a reliable way to align the jig square to the wheel. playing with the knobs is finicky for me since they are upside-down when i am making the adjustments. i find it faster to lock the blade in and make a test grind, then manually adjust square to the wheel. it's almost like it's better to have a SE-76 for straight blades and the SE-77 dedicated for cambers.

[ken hatch]

i mostly use the SE-77 for chisels and block plane blades which makes the SE-77 less useful than the old style. I may be missing something but the SE-77 doesn't have a reliable way to align the jig square to the wheel. playing with the knobs is finicky for me since they are upside-down when i am making the adjustments. i find it faster to lock the blade in and make a test grind, then manually adjust square to the wheel. it's almost like it's better to have a SE-76 for straight blades and the SE-77 dedicated for cambers.

Bill,

That is what I do when a cutter needs grinding.

ken

[Bob Jones 5443]

The SE-77 has a fence on the right side to register the blade square to the universal support, and therefore square to the wheel. Study the user manual.

[ken hatch]

The SE-77 has a fence on the right side to register the blade square to the universal support, and therefore square to the wheel. Study the user manual.

Bob,

You are correct about the fence but the SE-77 also has adjustment of the angle of presentation that can be fiddly to adjust. The Se-77 is very good for cambered cutters and/or if your Tormek mounts are not square to the wheel but the Se-76 is better for straight cutters unless there is a problem with your system.

I have read the user manual and I use both jigs for what they are best for.

ken

[Tom M King]

If I didn't already have the cambers on all my planes like I want them, I'd buy one.