Finding an alternative supplier

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

I want to make the device described by D.A.G. Brown in an article entitled "The end of a boring problem – Sharpening small drills" that appeared in ME dated 7 Jan 1993.

The article mentions a diamond lapping plate supplied by a company in Kettering, called Clifford Northfield Ltd. Alas, this company appears to have vanished.

I know its a bit of a long shot, but does anybody know of an alternate supplier, or just happen to have a spare plate?

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I'm assuming its a grooved plate for lapping rather than the diamond impregnated ones in which case this should do the trick, failing that the same company do plenty of the diamond ones as well.

[john jennings 1Participant @johnjennings1]

Takes me back 60 years when we used this type of plate for lapping and polishing short lengths of glass tube for spectrometer cells.

Two observations:

For small drills the grooves look a bit big .

£97 plus suitable (diamond grits?) will buy an awful lot of small drills even from a decent named manufacturer!

More positively wouldn't a small fine diamond impregnated plate work as well (possibly masking strips with masking tape if you want a non abrasive 'runway' ( I seem to remember buying something matching your description about that time which had a fine strip and a coarser strip both about 1 cm. wide and 5/6 cm. long

John.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Your tip John, of sharpening round carbide inserts on a diamond "stone" worked a treat the other day on my flycutter.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I am almost sure that D.A.G. Brown used something like the EZE Diamond Sharpener

#201 Fine would probably do the job nicely.

MichaelG.

 

.

Edit: just realised that John's reference is to something similar.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 31/01/2015 14:05:15

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 31/01/2015 14:07:56

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Gary Just googed Clifford Northfield They still appear to exist

Roy

[Roger Provins 2Participant @rogerprovins2]

Directory says Clifford Northfield Ltd  01536 744 041

Edited By Roger Provins 2 on 31/01/2015 16:54:46

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

Roy and Roger,

I tried that route before posting my request. The directory listing is way out of date, so much so that the phone number has been re-assigned to a private individual, who gets annoyed by people seeking Clifford Northfield.

[VersabossParticipant @versaboss]

Hi,

That's how the genuine Clifford Northfield diamond plates look like:

But I'm sure the above mentioned Eze-lap products would be just as good..

These originals had been quite expensive afaik…

Btw. as I now have other means to sharpen small (and larger) drills I would be prepared to separate me from them (together with the Brown jigs). PM me if interested… Still a lot of life in them I think.

Kind regards,

HansR.

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

Thanks for the information guys,

I checked Chronos but, because there was a discrepancy on their site, I phoned and was told I'd be called back – but it never happened. In the end I purchased from Arc Euro.

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