I have the idea to attach a small cutting disk to a sewing machine motor as supplied on rod wrappers to use as a grinder to dress guide feet. I could I guess use the wrapper chuck itself but I like to keep all dust and dirt away from the wrapper.
Does anyone know of a small chuck I can buy that would fit the 1/8" diameter motor shaft, maybe a model makers one?
Does this sound a daft idea or would it make dressing the guide feet that much easier?
Philip.

I don't think I would be confortable with the metal shavings from the guide feet being so close to where I do my wrapping, no matter how small the particles may be

I agree Ron, that's why I'd like to mount a small chuck onto a spare motor and mount in a seperate place as I like the idea of using a low totque motor rather than a Dremel type tool.
Philip

I think you will find you will be better off with a small 4-6" disc sander. Check Harbor Freight or some other stores.

Hey Philip: I have been using a Dremal Tool with a 1 1/2in Diamond wheel to grand down my guide feet. Works great! Hope this helps.

Thanks Darrell,
That's where I've got the idea, it's just a way of making a permanent tool I'm after. I've looked at the Dremel tool which works great, but the tool stations that hold it are really expensive over here in the UJK.
Philip

Phillip,
Pick up one of these belt sanders.
I use 150 grit paper on it to sand down my guide feet. Simple easy, quick and very clean.

You will also find a thousand other uses for this sander for rod building as well. I use this sander all of the time with various grades of paper to take care of a myriad of chores around the shop.

I use 600 or 800 grit paper on this sander to put a razor edge on my blades, fillet knives etc.

I use a 100- 300 grit paper on this sander to sand the ends of butt caps, or to shape reel seats.

So, many many uses for such a sander in addition to simply shaping guide feet:

[www.harborfreight.com]

Another very useful tool is:

[www.harborfreight.com]

I remove the blade and guard from this saw, and install a 3 inch abrasive wheel:

[www.harborfreight.com]

This little chop saw with a thin abrasive wheel does a wonderful job to trim blanks - butt or tip of the blank. Cut arbors, chop cork, etc. etc. etc.

These two small bench top tools are indesnsible in the shop and both are used daily.

You will find that the chop saw with its abrasive wheel cust blanks and tips as clean and as quick as any method on the market.
In my case, I removed all of the adjustments from the table top of the chop saw. Then, I installed a piece of 1/4 X 1/4 thin aluminum angle mounted backward to act as a backstop for the wheel. I mounted it so that the stop is on the centerline of the abrasive wheel.
After mounting the aluminum angle, I simply dropped the spinning wheel to cut a nice tight slot in the aluminum for a perfect fit so that you have an excellent backstop for making 90 degree cuts of small items like tip tops, reel seat arbors and the butt sections of rods. I have found no need to make any than 90 degree cuts with this tiny chop bench mounted chop saw.

Roger

How many feet are you dressing? If the primary use is just for dressing guide feet why not just use a quality mill file and do them by hand. I doubt it takes much longer and your chances for an oops mistake is nill.

Now having a sander is a great tool to have but if it is just for feet, I certainly wouldn't go to the effort or cost.

I have the little 1x30" belt sander from Harbor Freight but I use a fine cut 6" knife file to dress guide feet.
I personally don't think it is worth the trouble using the belt sander on guide feet. But I am working mostly with small DF guides and Micros.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

Jay,
I use the belt sander all fo the time for all of the guides, The sander is always set up, so is handy.

For dressing small guides, I have taken an 8x32 long bolt. This size bolt just fits inside some of the smaller guides. I have then ground the head so it is nearly flat.
I then have taken the long bolt, slipped a guide on the bolt, and then taken a piece of rod blank that just fits over the bolt. I use the chop saw to chop the length of the rod blank so that the guide is captured, and have just enough room to spin a wing nut on the end of the bolt. i.e. you only have to put the nut on the bolt a few turns to get it to tighten up.

You now have a nice handle to easily grip while holding, to dress the guides. One of the biggest issues small guides is to be able to hold the guide, without having what you are holding the guide with - to get in the way of what you are using to dress the guides with.

The bolt, short length of blank and wing nut take care of the problem very nicely.

Roger

Jay,
Another thing that I like to use the belt sander is to use relatively coarse sanding belt - like 150 grit. Then, when I sand the guide feet, I hold the guide foot at 90 degrees to the belt. The result is that the sandpaper puts fine grooves across the face of the guide foot.
The nice thing about this, especially with smaller guides with short feet, is that the perpendicular grooves in the guide feet, tend to hold the thread when wrapping and to help keep the guide feet from slipping out of the wrap.

Of course, I still use a locking wrap on any guide that has a short foot to give further insurance, but these small perpendicular guide foot micro grooves also help as well. One of the worst type guides to wrap on are shiny stainless guide feet with no prep. It is like trying to stand still on a hill of ice with slick skies.

Take care
Roger

You can also pick up a cheep drill and make a stand like the one Flex Coat uses for there lath
A drill with a locking trigger so you don't have to hold it on.

Bill - willierods.com

Philip


Dermel tool followed by a light hand wiping with 320 grit emery paper to remove any sharp edges.

John