Harold Hall’s Advanced Grinding Rest

[JOHN BRIDGE 1Participant @johnbridge1]

[JOHN BRIDGE 1Participant @johnbridge1]

Is there a kit available for this and is it possible to buy the plans other than in the book. John

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

AFAIK there is no kit available, but I stand to be corrected on this.

The complete drawings are only available in Harold's book, however he has put a pdf of the upper part of the rest on his website, as this part has most detail and is very small in the book.

There is a full description, including videos, on Harold's website. The advanced rest is here – **LINK** Once you've seen that, you can then spend hours on the website studying his various projects .

The rest was also described in MEW no 89 in April 2003, with updates in later issues

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Most of the details of Harold's design are also in teh 25 Years of MEW special, still available digitally.

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi John,

Have you checked out Kim's building log of the Advanced Rest on the MEM site?

Thor

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

John – I have built the rest which you can see in my albums. Just remember to consider Harolds mods on his web site before you start work. (The two magnets are essential in my opinion).

Harolds book is better than a set of drawings as it provides a great deal of info that mere drawings cannot.

Hope you enjoy your build.

Rik

Edited By Rik Shaw on 25/06/2017 18:28:56

[JOHN BRIDGE 1Participant @johnbridge1]

Thanks very much to you all for your replies, I have ordered a used copy of MEW 89 off Ebay, it should arrive tomorrow, I have also ordered Harold's book. I have tried to order the 25 years special issue but it will not let me use Paypal with my browser ( Microsoft Edge ), I prefer not to transmit my Credit Card details but I may. I have looked at Kim's building log and I am sure I will be looking at it frequently during my build.. Rik I can only hope that my build will be half as good as yours and yes I will be using the magnets and applying the mods. Does anyone know which later issues these mods. appear in?

John

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

To have put his own time and effort into making his website with most of his projects on it, which is virtually free to use, really shows his dedication to this hobby.

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 26/06/2017 09:40:24

[thaiguzziParticipant @thaiguzzi]

Posted by Michael-w on 26/06/2017 09:39:58:

To have put his own time and effort into making his website with most of his projects on it, which is virtually free to use, really shows his dedication to this hobby.

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 26/06/2017 09:40:24

Agreed.

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

John

In MEW nos 90 and 91 (May/June and July 2003) Harold describes accessories for use with the grinding rest, in 90 these include a square workpiece holder, slitting saw sharpening jig, fence and stop assembly; no 91 was concerned with a more testing build of an end mill sharpener.

The article in MEW no 91 was the eighth in a series called "Milling Projects for Beginners" which series Harold later turned into a book.

In MEW no 176 (May 2011) in an article entitled " Grinding Rest Update" Harold described using his rest for various purposes and modifying a bench grinder for the best outcome. This article also introduced the use of the 2 switchable magnets.

EDIT – I think you can find all the info in these MEWs on Harold's website, though you may be like me and prefer to have a piece of paper in your hand!

Edited By Robbo on 26/06/2017 14:35:48

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

I agree with Rik – The book "Milling: A Complete Course (Workshop Practice)" is just £6.95 on Amazon and has all of the plans and the recommended updates on HH's website are essential reading IMHO here **LINK**.

I bought the book (so if there is any copyright fee then it goes to Harold), checked HH's website and then ordered the materials from M-Machine.

Jon

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

I have just completed this grinding rest and have mounted it on a board with a bench grinder modified as he suggests with a mount that is adjustable for height and angle. I used aluminium castings for all the larger blocks of metal. I have also made the end mill sharpening attachment, all that is left to do are the collets.

Edited By norman valentine on 26/06/2017 16:09:37

[JOHN BRIDGE 1Participant @johnbridge1]

Thanks once again to everyone for your helpful replies, I have ordered MEW 89,90,91 cannot find 176 which I would like as it shows the mods. to the grinder, I will look on Harold's site later in case it is on there, also ordered of course Harold's book number 35, I also have the digital version of the 25 years special issue, this will be useful as I can enlarge the drawings, the eyes are not as sharp as they once where. One other problem I have with the grinder, when it starts you can see some run out on the and this of course causes vibration, I can dress the wheel on it's circumference but it is the sides that need truing up, I have tried about six wheels all with some run out and similar on two different grinders, is this normal?

Norman, I am interested in knowing which bits you made out of aluminium any chance of the part numbers?

John

[JOHN BRIDGE 1Participant @johnbridge1]

Just noticed that the Grinding Head is in Harold's Book No 38 which I have.

John

[Antony PriceParticipant @antonyprice56876]

Hi John

I've posted this before, but, also check out:

Link: **LINK**

Tony

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

John, I made parts, 4,7,8,9,17,18 and 20 from cast aluminium with some copper added to the alloy which makes it harder.

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

John

Have sent you a PM

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I've been looking at making something like this for some time, so this thread got me thinking. If I use the magnet idea for securing the whoe thing, can I get away with only one dovetail arrangement? If I want to use the face of the wheel, or more likely a cup wheel, I'd just plonk the rest down so the dovetail slide advanced the table towards the face of the wheel, parallel to the grinder spindle.. Looking at Clarkson machines, they only have one leadscrew controlled movement.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

from time to time I'v been thinking of something similar, but with the tool rest rising and lowering vertically past a fixed grinder.

Ian S C

[JOHN BRIDGE 1Participant @johnbridge1]

JohnPosted by Thor on 25/06/2017 18:12:38:

Hi John,

Have you checked out Kim's building log of the Advanced Rest on the MEM site?

Thor

Hi Thor,, This was a very useful link and I could view the videos but now they are not available something about a Photobucket account update, are these videos available elsewhere.?

John

[JOHN BRIDGE 1Participant @johnbridge1]

Well I have finished making H H's Grinding Rest and found it an most enjoyable exercise, respect to Harold ,I wonder how may of these have been made. My attempt is not as good as some I have seen done by others but I am very pleased with it,, I have still to complete the graduations on the feed knobs, I do not have a dividing head, I may make Harold's, I also have to make the accessories to enable me to use the rest. I also made this rest using bits and pieces of metal that I had lying around some of it scrap, old railings and the like except for the 50 and 32 mm square. I would also like to sat in case it was misunderstood, that I do have the two books that Harold produced 35 and 38, I did buy them, The reason I wanted PDF'S larger diagrams was that so I could enlarge them and print them out as my old eyes like the rest of me are not as good as they once where.

John .

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi John,

Congratulations, your grinding rest looks very nice. You just need a simple indexer to make the graduations on the feed knobs, Harold's simple one using a lathe change-wheel isn't difficult to make.

Thor

[JOHN BRIDGE 1Participant @johnbridge1]

Hi Thor,

Thanks Thor, yes I was thinking of making Harold's indexer, I have quite a few Myford change-wheels but I want to make some of the accessories first so that I can use the rest.

John

[Bob McParticipant @bobmc91481]

I didn't need to make the grinding rest since I already had something very similar, but I did make the End Mill sharpening jig … however I thought that the original design was over complicated and I dispensed with the bushes fitted to the MT2 collett holder and the bush for the probe rest… I also cheated by purchasing an MT2 collett holder with 1" straight sides, so all I needed to do was drill through the end to fit the collett securing screw.

You may also see that I did not make the locating fitting on the end as in the original, that also seemed a bit over complicated, so I just made a wheel with countersunk locating holes which an M6 screw fitted into, the end of the screw is turned to a slightly larger angle than the countersink giving a positive lock, this fitting is only used when grinding the end of the milling cutter.

When the collett holder is required to rotate as in sharpening the flute edges, the end wheel is taken off and and re-fitted 180 degrees back on the collett holder, a small step turned on the wheel for about 3mm stops the wheel from touching the M6 locating screw as mentioned previously.

Well…it works ok… Bob..

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

What size dovetail cutter would be recommended for this rest, and also Duncan noted that a magnet method rather than a dovetail what is meant by this.

Thanks Bob

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