Honing a Blade Holder Tutorial

This tutorial shows a simple way to hone out a blade holder. This is needed when using an Ultrasabers blade with a blade holder from TCSS.

Materials:
Drill Press (recommended) or hand drill
Shopvac
Eye, ear, and hand protection
Cylinder hone from McMaster-Carr

The hone you'll want to get is from http://www.mcmaster.com
When at the site, search for part number 4424A24

Quick shot of everything you need. The gloves were around $10 at Home Depot, I recommend getting something like them. The shopvac isn't pictured.

Make sure your drill press is on the lowest speed setting it has. Mine goes down to 640 rpm. Do not use a drill press if you can't make it spin below 1000 rpm.

Chuck the cylinder hone and then slide your blade holder onto it. Make sure that any screws are removed from the blade holder before honing.

Now comes the tricky part. With one hand you will want to hold the blade holder and hose from the shopvac. The vacuum will suck in all the metal dust and keep the part cool while honing. This means you don't have to wash the part afterwords, and the part doesn't heat up while honing.

Turn the vacuum on, then the drill press. When honing, keep two hands on the blade holder at all times. Only remove a hand to turn the press on and off.

Check fitment every few minutes. Soon enough, your blade will fit perfectly.

If you don't have a drill press available, this method can be used with a hand drill. Put the drill on the lowest speed setting. Have someone hold the drill and then you hold the part and vacuum. It's the same basic process.