Member postings for Ralph Sparrow

At around the same time there was an article in MEW by Ralph Sparrow (MEW 117 July 2006) entitled "Sharpening with diamond discs

Nice to see that my design has helped others. One thing that wasn't known to me at the time was that diamonds are just about the best conductor of heat. I could see that the diamond wheel didn't cause blueing on the edge being sharpened but didn't appreciate the reason. This meant that I didn't need to cool the piece being sharpened and it didn't lose temper. To me this is the best reason for diamond wheel sharpening. As well as this there is no grinder dust thrown about, helping to keep the workshop and my nostrils clean. I also found that it worked on tipped tools as well as HSS.

Soon after the design was published I got a nice letter from a German model engineer who had made his version of the design but he had improved it by adding a screw rise and fall to make the vertical location of the grinding head more precise.

I have to add that my engineering started with D. Napier and Son at the beginning of the 1950's and I didn't touch a lathe or mill 'till I retired 19 years ago. I hated grinding as much when I restarted as I did at the beginning. My main modelling interest was and is flying model aircraft, freeflight and radio control but machining bits and pieces is invaluable.