Honinig a TIPTLE with 3M lapping film

Seraphim said:

For my Friodur 7/8 it has a natural blade angle of ~18 degrees. I used my SolidWorks CAD drafting software to calculate what it would require to get the double bevel edge to a Feather 22 degree angle, and it worked out to be 5 layers of tape.

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5 layers of tape.. so, how thick is your tape?, you cannot take whatever tape and say 5 layers.. Some are thinner, some are thicker. if I put 5 layers of my electrical tape, that is some.

btw, how did you find out that your friodur has 18 degrees, and Feather have 22 degrees?, Just want to know, I'm starting to compare my DE blades to find out why they behave different.

JoePerri said:

I think you will have alot of fun with the QX5. It does need some modification to reach its full potential though. You'll need to remove the bottom light and use an external source for lighting from beneath. The top light is nowhere near bright enough for working at 200x. I use a very bright LED flashlight when taking micrographs of razors.

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Did you pyshically remove the bottom light?

I'm speculating about removing the top LED and buy one that is stronger, I see that you can get 1watts single LEDs.
Your inova light does that one have one single LED or is it multiple inside?, I bought one crappy one here, but no info about watts but it is 136 lumen, so it is extremely bright, but I send the light in from the side, and that gives strange reflections.
I'm wondering about taking out that led and replace it with the built in one, and add external power to give it what it needs.

asbjorn said:

Feather edge is not double bevel., at least not the edge I was looking at. one bevel only, but the IP Blue is double bevel., I'm going to check all my DE blades to se how they are.
Or maybe you are refering to Feather AC blades?, Those I don't know anything about.

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This is incorrect. Feather DE blades are triple beveled. Feather AC are double beveled.

This is a Feather DE blade. You can clearly see all three bevels.


Joe

asbjorn said:

Feather edge is not double bevel., at least not the edge I was looking at. one bevel only, but the IP Blue is double bevel., I'm going to check all my DE blades to se how they are.
Or maybe you are refering to Feather AC blades?, Those I don't know anything about.

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From the Zowada website:Zowada

When I started looking at the Feather brand DE blades at 200x, I noticed three distinct bevels. I built a laser angle measuring gizmo to check what the actual angles were. To my surprise the final angle was between 20 and 21 degrees. The Feather Professional straight blades were 25 degrees.

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Almost all DE blades have at least two bevels, most three. The Merkurs have three bevels, but they are all done with like 600 grit sandpaper, thus they give a rough shave (my opinion only, but they do look quite rough under a microscope!)

asbjorn said:

Did you pyshically remove the bottom light?

I'm speculating about removing the top LED and buy one that is stronger, I see that you can get 1watts single LEDs.
Your inova light does that one have one single LED or is it multiple inside?, I bought one crappy one here, but no info about watts but it is 136 lumen, so it is extremely bright, but I send the light in from the side, and that gives strange reflections.
I'm wondering about taking out that led and replace it with the built in one, and add external power to give it what it needs.

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Yes, I removed the bottom light. It is just a few screws to get it out.

I did not replace the top light. I have used a variety of lights to illuminate the field. For razor blades I find that I get the best results from a hand held flashlight. I cut away most of the dark plastic surrounding the bottom of the turret to give better access. I suppose you could replace the built-in LED with a high wattage one but it might be a bit tricky.

I hope this helps!

Joe

asbjorn said:

5 layers of tape.. so, how thick is your tape?, you cannot take whatever tape and say 5 layers.. Some are thinner, some are thicker. if I put 5 layers of my electrical tape, that is some.

btw, how did you find out that your friodur has 18 degrees, and Feather have 22 degrees?, Just want to know, I'm starting to compare my DE blades to find out why they behave different.

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You can calculate the angle on a straight by measuring the distance between the honing flats on the spine (call this S) and the distance from the edge to the honing flats (call this W). The honing angle is then 2 x asin((0.5 x S) / W), where "asin" is the arcsin function, sometimes called sin-1 on some calculators.

So a razor that measures 7/8" from edge to honing flats, and 1/4" across the flats, has a honing angle of:

ha = 2 x asin((0.5 * 0.25) / 0.875)

= 2 x asin(0.125 / 0.875)

= 2 x asin(0.1428)

= 2 x 8.21deg

ha = 16.42 degrees

you can also use this to calculate how much the tape changes the honing angle for your various secondary bevels.

The DE makers can save time and wear on equipment by creating a polished micro-bevel and not polishing out the entire back bevel. Other than this efficiency, I don't really see how this makes a blade sharper than a single bevel at the same level of polish.

It doesn't make it sharper, in fact in makes it "less sharp" when you take the increased angle into account. That does not necessarily translate to "less comfortable" though. Since there are many of use who find the Feather blades to be the ultimate in comfort it makes sense to try and replicate their blade and see what effect it has on perceived sharpness or comfort. It is also much easier for us to finely polish a microbevel and touch it up when dull. So far I have found no overall benefit in a secondary bevel.

Joe

mparker762 said:

you can also use this to calculate how much the tape changes the honing angle for your various secondary bevels.

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Thanks!

JoePerri said:

This is incorrect. Feather DE blades are triple beveled. Feather AC are double beveled.This is a Feather DE blade. You can clearly see all three bevels.

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Cool, I have to check the lighting department, or the snazzy software mixed my pictures up.. I was clearly under the impression that the feather had only one bevel..

Hi

Can you please tell me how you attached the lapping film to your glass plates?

thanks!

r

They are PSA backed sheets.

Joe