New Tungsten Sharpeners, Innovative, Priced Well

[christian]

Yeah,

I noticed a seller on Amazon having a clever new style tungsten grinder that will fit on a Dremel tool, of which I have two.



https://www.amazon.com/ALUMINUM-Elec...4889437&sr=8-3

I mean, I already have a dedicated Dremel-style tungsten sharpener that has a fixed-angle to it, and it doesn’t need any collet change-outs, like the typical Sharpie designs ($250-$400) seem to do. So, I do still like my current one OK, and it was only about $150, including the rotary tool, some years ago.



But, this new style on is priced well, at about $98, if you already have a Dremel or similar thread-on style tool. It’s “4-sizes x 4 degrees”, with tungsten cut-off feature.



My sharpener didn’t have a tungsten cut-off ability, until I made a channel in the billet aluminum head.

Anyway, I’ll probably get one of these clever new tungsten grinding heads to fit on one of my variable-speed Dremel tools, just to get the different grinding angles, and because the cut-off feature looks a little better than the way I made mine do it.

Eastwood has a similar designed one that comes with the rotary tool too, at about $149, but only handles 1/16” and 3/32” tungstens, with two grind angle for each. Which is all I use, anyway. So, that’s a good value too, I think.



https://www.amazon.com/Eastwood-Tung...XV76NN1DJYZXPJ

It's such a great time for newbies.

I mean, only 5 or 10 years ago, these kind of choices, features, and values were not available.

And that's a victory for the Market (consumer)!

[christian]

Gee,

I noticed further, that's there's a 3rd generation version of this thing, priced a little higher too.

Not that I'm affiliated with, compensated by, or shilling for the seller or producer in any way.

I'm just sharing as an enthusiastic welding market consumer/observer.



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZF8JPQ8/ref=emc_b_5_t



Not that I'm affiliated with, compensated by, or shilling for the seller or producer in any way.

I'm just sharing as an enthusiastic welding market consumer/observer.

Honestly, I kind of like the Eastwood, since it has open slots, rather than having to shove a fouled tungsten into a barrel/collet hole, which can be problematic for a boogered-up tungsten, causing me to gave to step up to the larger tungsten hole size to grind some, before getting back to the prescribed size hole for grinding. And sometimes that doesn't even do, so a flap disc is sometimes called for. But that Eastwood one looks like you can lay a tungsten in the slot to more easily knock off any molten metal that will often suck up onto a tungsten beyond the tip. The Eastwood doesn't seem to have a cut-off ability, but I could cut a slot on that head, like I did for my current turret-head style sharpener, to make it cut a tungsten tip off. And I don't use Thoriated, so I don't really need to capture the ground off tungsten dust.



Some things just get better and better!

Wheeeee.............

[ProMetalShop]

Christian, I seen these about a month ago, and gave them quite a bit of consideration. They do warn that there are some knock offs. I have a dermal, but thinking I would purchase another one, and dedicate it as a sharpener.

[christian]

Well,

I bought the billet or extruded "aluminum" GEN 2 tungsten grinding head that threads onto a Dremel, of which I have two, one being under-utilized, of course, which seemed to influence my decision a bit.



I’ll include a pic of my current turret-head style rotary tool. It’s an OK one, but it’s ready for a new diamond wheel anyway. Maybe I’ll give it away for free to some Everlast Forum member here who doesn’t have one yet, and actually owns an Everlast TIG welding unit. See details below.



Anyway, there was a $10-off coupon on Amazon today for this item (Black Friday?), free shipping, and no sales tax (out-of-state seller on Amazon), so the total came to $88.99.



Otherwise, there were a couple similarly-designed, lower-priced tungsten sharpening head designs that fit up to existing rotary tools too. But, they’re made from Delrin or some other molded plastic, in which several buyer/users on Amazon complained that a tungsten being ground heats up too much that he allen-headed collet/barrel will begin to melt the plastic threads that it’s seated into. So, the material being used on those cheaper "knock-off" heads make them a poor choice, to me.



So, after my new tungsten grinding head arrive to me, I think I’ll give my old one away, which will include the rotary tool, too. Free sipping will be included in that portion of the North American continent commonly called the 48-state area. And I’ll include a new diamond cutting wheel on it, from the new head assembly, since there are 5 new ones included from the Amazon seller.

How To Win A Free, USED, Dedicated Tungsten Grinding Rotary Tool:

Just be the first one to post within this thread a pic with the panel of an Everlast TIG welding unit that you own and which has your face in the pic next to the panel. Ha, ha, ha…

Then privately message me an address where you want it sent.

That’s it!

[christian]

Gee,

I've noticed how well the Everlast forum included pics in the threads lately. And I like how it shows them in less-than full size, until you click on them too, and people will often reply to a post, which otherwise will often duplicate a big, fat photo over again, needlessly and redundantly.

The internet "link" tool for a YouTube video player window still doesn't seem to work, but still a hyper link to the YouTube page itself. No biggie.

[ProMetalShop]

Glad you decided on the Gen 2, have you tried it as of yet ? There is nothing like consistency to help eliminate the guess work of trouble shooting your welds. So does the head fit just Dremel brand, or all or most dremel style tool ?

[MC5W]

I see that the technology has improved over what went on during my first TIG course in 1984. I have been over to Arc-Zone and some of their tingsten grinders are as easy to use as a power pencil sharpener. Am I right about that? Kind of hard to tell how to use them from the website pictures.

Back in 1984 when I was taking a TIG course my instructor used a bench grinder to grind the tips. I did not ask what kind of grinding wheel it was. Sintered aluminum oxide ( most common bench grinder wheel ) has a hardness of 9.0 versus 9.5 for silicon carbide ( second most common grinding wheel ) and 10 for diamond and boron nitride.

[christian]

Yeah,

If you booger the tungsten up too bad, a flap-disc on an angle-grinder will do very well, in a pinch.

[christian]

Well,

I just noticed this 3Mirrors seller on Amazon has refined their product even further, and also have their TIG tungsten sharping head fitted up with a rotary tool, so that nothing else is needed, priced around $149.

Of course, I’m not shilling for or compensated by any seller of these products. I’m just a satisfied customer who is happy to pass along this info, since the typical offerings to TIG welders for these type of handheld tungsten sharpeners can usually be found for two or three times as much money.

So, producers and the free market have created this new and increased value and supply, that will undoubtedly satisfy a demand in this area and free up extra funds for welders to lower their production costs a bit.

And the further innovation for this latest grinding head is that they now offer a 24-hole unit, which gives numerous angles for numerous tungsten sizes without having to changes anything, i.e., just pick a hole and start grinding.



They still carry the 12-hole style one that I got some time ago, which sells for a cheaper price, at around $109 (with the rotary tool included). So, I’d probably go with the 24-hole one if I didn’t have the 12-hole one already and the extra Dremel tool for it, which was cheaper still without any rotary tool included. So, you can still get the heads alone, but not for very much less that with the rotary tool included, go figure. I mean, the rotary tool is probably priced around $12 at Harbor Freight.



But now they have the option for their new and old tungsten grinding heads, to include a rotary tool for an outstanding price and value.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08M3984L8...2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1