Sharpen your grinder blade and true the plates

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crankybuzzard

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Jan 4, 2014
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Montague County, TX
I made this video a while back and thought about it today when I sharpened my blade and refaced the plate.

Thought it might be helpful to some others here. There are 3 videos total that take you through the whole process.

Mods, feel free to remove if I'm breaking any rules...


[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]
 
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]Nice tutorial CB...........
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  Thanks for sharing

 On surfaces a good way to remove any indelible ink is with some acetone or you can use a dry erase marker of the same color and it will remove the indelible ink.
 
Thanks for this! I have been having a hell of a time with my go to plate getting gummed up while grinding. If the meat is practically frozen, it won't chop very well. I've noticed it has what looks to be grooves so this might be hindering the blade and plate mating up and grinding well.
 
CB

Very good video's and directions.  I haven't sharped mine yet.  I've only used them about five or six times.  But even at that it would be good to know that they are sharp and true.

Thanks

Ed
 
My blades are not cutting like they were when I first bought my cabals 1hp commercial grade stuffer. That said I am waiting for the new cabals to open here in the next town in April to buy new plates and a blade. My parts are stainless steel. I'm going to buy a new set before trying this method on the old plates. I do have access to a precision surface grinder at work and could sharpen them that way but I think this method will suffice. The only concern I have is contaminating the Stainless steel plates with the sand grit. Maybe a do a passivisation on the plates after they are sharpened

Just rambling...........
 
 
My blades are not cutting like they were when I first bought my cabals 1hp commercial grade stuffer. That said I am waiting for the new cabals to open here in the next town in April to buy new plates and a blade. My parts are stainless steel. I'm going to buy a new set before trying this method on the old plates. I do have access to a precision surface grinder at work and could sharpen them that way but I think this method will suffice. The only concern I have is contaminating the Stainless steel plates with the sand grit. Maybe a do a passivisation on the plates after they are sharpened

Just rambling...........
The surface grinder would provide the best facing for the plate/knife combination for sure!  But, most surface grinders have a magnetic plate to hold the parts, and I've had stainless parts get contaminated with carbon steel bits, which ended up giving my stainless parts "freckles".  If you're set up for passivation, that would take care of any issues that could arise from carbon steel and/or sand.

For the record, I love my carbon steel plates...  Once the patina hits, I have almost zero corrosion issues.  I also give them a nice silicone spray after final washing.
 
I'd have to build a jig to hold the plates I'll try this method first
 
It works well most of the time. Once you get everything trued up the first round, it's a lot easier on future maintenance.
 
First time I did my plates I thought my arm was going to fall off by the time I got the three plates and blade somewhat square. I still have some deeper gouges in my plates which will get worked out over time I'm sure. From what I saw with my LEM plates I will never run a new set of plates or blade without first squaring them up using CrankyBuzzard's tutorial. If I would have done a little sanding on the new plates and especially the blade I would have saved a lot of time by not having to remove all the wear the new ruff out of square blade imparted on the new plates. 

For those of you that might be wondering what you can use as a good flat surface one idea is a piece of glass from a picture frame. I had an old picture frame laying around which has a glass picture cover, some cheaper frames use plastic. For this job I left the glass in the frame and just set the sand paper on the glass, other jobs I might remove the glass from the frame but I put it back into the frame when I'm done to protect the glass from getting broken.
 
 
First time I did my plates I thought my arm was going to fall off by the time I got the three plates and blade somewhat square. I still have some deeper gouges in my plates which will get worked out over time I'm sure. From what I saw with my LEM plates I will never run a new set of plates or blade without first squaring them up using CrankyBuzzard's tutorial. If I would have done a little sanding on the new plates and especially the blade I would have saved a lot of time by not having to remove all the wear the new ruff out of square blade imparted on the new plates. 

For those of you that might be wondering what you can use as a good flat surface one idea is a piece of glass from a picture frame. I had an old picture frame laying around which has a glass picture cover, some cheaper frames use plastic. For this job I left the glass in the frame and just set the sand paper on the glass, other jobs I might remove the glass from the frame but I put it back into the frame when I'm done to protect the glass from getting broken.
add to this is that if you have a local glass/window company they have scraps that are 1/2" to 1" think glass (use for doors/etc) that they will give you or sell a lot for a few bucks that will outlast you.
 
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Great post for sure nothing works better then sharp tools be it grinding knives kitchen knives or in my old line of work wood working tools. Not only is it easier with sharp tools but also safer.
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a point for a great and helpful post.

Warren
 
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