I built the simple version. It's surprisingly (to me) rigid in use, and does my lathe tools and pointy bits well. Not difficult to make as my first project, some 40 years after leaving the apprentice school machine shop.

Here is mine. The two items in the foreground are Harold's suggested tool holders.

Good Evening,

I made the simple rest some time ago and offer the following observations:

1. – Be sure to be accurate and precise in component fit.

2 – Use only good quality, tightly toleranced taps, dies and drills. Any thing less and you will have imprecise movements and backlash

3. – Fit an adjustable gibb in the in-feed dovetails.

4. – If you are left handed put the traverse locking screw on the left side.

5. – As I use the rest both in the front and at the side of the grinder I find relocating it a chore and often its position is just not quite right. I am overcoming this by fixing a mild steel plate to the bench, doing away with the rest hold- down fixings and fitting two magnetic clamps to the base.

6. – I find the adjustment of the drill sharpening jig backstop fussy, so have drilled and tapped an M5 hole through the vertical part of the drill backstop. It is located at the horizontal centreline of the backstop and level with the bottom of the vee groove. through this I have fitted a screwed rod with a 20mm dia x 5mm longbrass thumbscrew on each end. This enables precise longitudinal positioning of drills of varying length without recourse to fiddling (arnt I polite?) about with the backstop adjustment.

I had considered building the improved version of the rest but find my improvements work well and doubt if the posh version is any better, In some ways its' parallellogram adjustment is an unnecessary complication – but I stand to be corrected by my peers!

Derek

I built this rest about 4 years ago and am quite happy with it other than there is a tendency for the table to rotate as it is only relying on the friction of the countersunk screw holding the table to the plastic ball to stop it.

Otherwise it work well.

Having now made Harold's Mill sharpening holder I've now got to make a vertical sliding mount for the grinder.

It is typical the one thing always leads to another.

Dave

Hi there David and Derek,

I have had no problems with the ball which I loctited to the bolt. It does need to be kranked pretty tight though between the countersunk clamp plates. If it eventually gives problems, which I somehow doubt, I will simply make either two sets of hinges disposed 90 degrees and capable of being adjusted by a long reach allen key or, if I ever get round to making a ball-turner, fit a purpose made Noga type adjustment as used on dial indicators.

Derek, may I ask the purpose of the vertical sliding mount?

Regards,

Jager

Likewise, I used nut inserts, and my picture shows the base of my drill grinding jig. No movement in use with plastic ball, which is what initially surprised me.

I have been using nut inserts for two differing positions but I find at times when grinding four facet drill bits that whilst setting the jig for the first 2 facets with the table close to the wheel side, declined at 30 degrees, and then swinging the table to the 10 degree position to grind the second facets it is necessary to move the table back to clear the wheel.

At present I do this by using the rest adjustment on the angle base as it is not always possible to gain sufficient movement on the in-feed depending on the length of drill being not sufficient to hang it out.

It is for this reason I want a ready means of repositioning and the mag bases will give me an endless sufficiency. A number of lines scribed on the bench mounted plate will provide positioning guides whilst two mag bases each with a pull of 80 kg will prevent unwanted movement.

Correcting myself here, the index said p62, and when checking the online copy I found it at p20, could I heck find it in the printed copy earlier this month, but looking now it seems to have snuck in there