Fixed- broken plastic Varigrind knob- your fix?

[Steve Tiedman]

Incredible that I've owned and used this since 1998'ish (casual turner), but I finally managed to break the plastic knob off my Varigrind jig. (Come on, I'm not the first!)

I could go with Oneway's retrofit knob and bearing kit which eliminates the leaf spring, but before I do this, what have you done about your broken knob? Pliers are the crappy solution.

Yes, I could turn a replacement knob from wood and epoxy it in place, but if you've done this, has it stayed in place on that serrated cap screw head? Pics, too, if you've got 'em. Thanks.

 

[Tony Rozendaal]

My original knob before I converted it was metal (brass or steel). It's still floating around somewhere if you want it, you can have it for the shipping. Assuming of course that it will thread onto the screw.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Thanks Tony, but it may not work. I got the plastic nub out of the head, it looks to be an 8mm allen head, judging by the perfect fit of an 8mm allen wrench. I've found knobs that get secured onto a threaded stud to create a handle/knob, but this one looks like a knob that pressed over the top of the head, not even glued to the screw head. The nub I got out of the screw head is even hex shaped. (Hole courtesy of my drill bit.) If that plastic hex nub into the allen recess was the only real thing transferring torque all these years, I'm surprised it didn't shear off earlier. It took a drop to the floor to break the original knob into several pieces.

Allen wrench... I could get another allen wrench, shorten the two legs and epoxy that into the screw head as a new handle. Huh, that may just work, as long as the handle leg is short enough to never touch the grinding wheel.
Edit- $2.59 for an 8mm allen wrench at my local Menards. Worth the experimental fees. I'd still entertain other ideas, thanks.

 

[Tom Gall]

Cut off a short stub from the allen wrench. Drill smaller hole in a block of wood (future disc knob). Hammer hex stub into wood and leave enough protruding to fit in the socket screw .... CA glue or epoxy around the hex shape (optional). Mount on lathe and turn knob (Jacobs chuck might be best here). Optional: make small kerfs around the diameter with a bandsaw to improve grip. CA or epoxy hex stub into the hex socket hole.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Cut off a short stub from the allen wrench. Drill smaller hole in a block of wood (future disc knob). Hammer hex stub into wood and leave enough protruding to fit in the socket screw .... CA glue or epoxy around the hex shape (optional). Mount on lathe and turn knob (Jacobs chuck might be best here). Optional: make small kerfs around the diameter with a bandsaw to improve grip. CA or epoxy hex stub into the hex socket hole.

I like it, thanks Tom.

 

[BobCoates]

Here is what I did, too long ago to actually how was done, guessing just pressed on and then glued. Probably CA glue.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Thanks Bob, she's holding up well it seems.

 

[Richard Coers]

Lifetime fix, knurled steel knob. Brazed in the cap screw.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Lifetime fix, knurled steel knob. Brazed in the cap screw.

View attachment 70542

Richard- yes, lifetime fix/design.
1- is that a replacement threaded stud, or a knurled knob that replaced the allen cap head which was cut off?
2- for heat, I only have a small bottle of mapp gas, no oxy-acetylene. Will mapp silver braze that knob to the stud?
3- I'm outside my knowledge base with that kind of thing. What else should i know? Thanks.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Edit- $2.59 for an 8mm allen wrench at my local Menards. Worth the experimental fees. I'd still entertain other ideas, thanks.

Yes, to a spare allen wrench, but don't glue it in. The knob on the Varigrind can get in the way (hits the grinder housing), the allen will be worse. Just use the allen wrench gently to snug. You may actually have a design improvement without the knob.

 

[Richard Coers]

Yes, to a spare allen wrench, but don't glue it in. The knob on the Varigrind can get in the way (hits the grinder housing), the allen will be worse. Just use the allen wrench gently to snug. You may actually have a design improvement without the knob.

I'm curious what you are sharpening that you get the var-grind in this position?

 

[Richard Coers]

Richard- yes, lifetime fix/design.
1- is that a replacement threaded stud, or a knurled knob that replaced the allen cap head which was cut off?
2- for heat, I only have a small bottle of mapp gas, no oxy-acetylene. Will mapp silver braze that knob to the stud?
3- I'm outside my knowledge base with that kind of thing. What else should i know? Thanks.

Yes MAP will get the steel hot enough. If you use 1/4" steel it will be faster to heat up.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

I'm curious what you are sharpening that you get the var-grind in this position?

Your grinder's housing provides much more clearance than my Rikon's does. When doing a long wing, the knob is the limiting factor. But frankly, I've pretty much switched over to using the Vector system (knob on the bottom), so not really an issue for me anymore.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Plastic? I've never seen a Verigrin with a plastic top knob, they've always been brass. I this a new thing? Biggest problem we've had is someone who overmuscled it a few years ago and bent the threaded part. Fortunately, at that time anyway, a replacement was available.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Plastic? I've never seen a Verigrin with a plastic top knob, they've always been brass. I this a new thing? Biggest problem we've had is someone who overmuscled it a few years ago and bent the threaded part. Fortunately, at that time anyway, a replacement was available.

Oh yeah, plastic. In the begining, there was plastic... atop the first generation Oneway Varigrind jig of the 1990's. (Yeah, it was 1998 when I got mine as suggested by 2 other turning pals in my area.) And way back in the pre-AAW forum days of Usenet boards (y'all remember "rec.crafts.woodturning" don't you?), people were sharing that they broke off their plastic Varigrind knobs, until such time when sometime in the 21st Century they changed it to brass, which it should have always been. And then eventually they got rid of the leaf spring for the bearing (news to me... of just a couple days ago). I bet they'll be able to bury me with my Varigrind.

I'll have mine fixed up in the next day or two thanks to ideas from this thread. Thanks everyone.

 

[Tom Gall]

Oh yeah, plastic. In the begining, there was plastic... atop the first generation Oneway Varigrind jig of the 1990's. (Yeah, it was 1998 when I got mine as suggested by 2 other turning pals in my area.) And way back in the pre-AAW forum days of Usenet boards (y'all remember "rec.crafts.woodturning" don't you?), people were sharing that they broke off their plastic Varigrind knobs, until such time when sometime in the 21st Century they changed it to brass, which it should have always been. And then eventually they got rid of the leaf spring for the bearing (news to me... of just a couple days ago). I bet they'll be able to bury me with my Varigrind.

I'll have mine fixed up in the next day or two thanks to ideas from this thread. Thanks everyone.

Got my first Vari-grind in 1996 and a second one in 2009. Both locked in place - one for bowl and another for spindle gouges ... never have to make any adjustments. Forgot about the upgrade kit which I also bought in 2009. Which means I have a plastic knob/screw somewhere which I could have sent to you ... forgot about that.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Ha, thanks Tom. You may need that kit someday. I'm going to beef mine up with one of the two allen wrench ideas discussed above.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

This is what the upgrade looks like

UPGRADE

 

[Richard Coers]

Plastic? I've never seen a Verigrin with a plastic top knob, they've always been brass. I this a new thing? Biggest problem we've had is someone who overmuscled it a few years ago and bent the threaded part. Fortunately, at that time anyway, a replacement was available.

Just the opposite. The first systems had a plaatic knob and the Wolverine bases were fabricated steel.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Done. A chunk of oiled hickory is my new Varigrind knob. Running it at low speed on the lathe, I spun a wire wheel against it to provide a friction grip texture. (I wanted an octogon shape knob, but that was an utter failure.) For the drilled holes, the outer larger dia. hole is the same as the head of the clamping bolt. The inner, deeper hole (1/2" deep) is a tight slip fit of the outer allen key hex facet intersections. There are two securing functions here- the piece of cut allen wrench acting as a floating tenon between the knob and bolt head, and the press fit of the knob onto the outer surface of the bolt head. Everything is buttered up with epoxy, and driven together tight.

The hickory knob is 2" dia. x 1-1/8" thick. The original plastic knob is 1-1/2" dia. x 3/8" thick. The new one is much easier to use than the original plastic. Full disclosure, I own two Varigrind jigs. I inherited one after my turning pal Chuck passed away a couple years ago. He'd be very pleased with my efforts to over-engineer a new knob. The knob that broke was on my jig.

 

[Richard Hodsdon]

I have an early Varigrind ('99 I think) with the plastic knob, when mine packed up , it was only half that broke off.
So I CA'd the bits back and filled in the underneath cavity with an epoxy putty. A Pattex liquid Steel here in South Africa, so now its a solid epoxy plastic knob and that has now survived lasted for the past 15 yrs, Maybe one day I will replace it with a brass knob.

Richard