Teck 1 shredder

[deluxestogie]

DrBob,
I snagged this image from an auction on the German ebay:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/alter-TECK-1...Tabakwaren_Zippos_Pfeifen&hash=item256dad4408

In a close-up, my imagination comes up with this cutting angle:

The view angle of the photo would seem to have little affect on the apparent cutting angle.

Bob

 

[DrBob]

thanks stogyman! that looks like 30 degrees! Mine is cut at 15 degrees +/- probably closer to 12 degrees.. It looks to me that new blades are in my future. I figgured that 45 degrees was gonna be close much the same as a paper cutter. Now I have somewhere to start Yup I do have access to a cnc machine
bob

 

[johnlee1933]

I would guess that with an old machine the cutting edge wold be removable. If so you are golden. Good luck !

When I have a delicate sharpening project I some times use diamond stones. They come in assorted grits. Only drawback is they won't hollow gring.

John

 

[BarG]

It seems that a flat grind would be stronger and last longer as a hollow grind is thinner with less steel behind cutting edge, used more for shaving or shallow cuts, also more prone to chipping. Just what you needed ,another opinion uh huh.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Bob.. I'll let ya know. Might be a week or more before I get it and then take it apart
Randy B

22 degrees. I must say that the Teck 1 makes a really nice, fine shag. I highly recommend it if you do not want to buy the kick-ass Kitchen-Aid angel hair pasta attachment. There's something soothing about cutting your own tobacco with a hand crank machine from a 100 years ago.

 

[DrBob]

Thank you mr jitterbug. 22 degrees is the answer I needed. I suspected a real problem with my teck 1. I finally got one blade loose yesterday without damaging the screws. Someone sometime reground it's blades to a much finer angle, about 12 degrees. To make matters worse the blade screws were glued in and the blades were glued to thier mounts besides. I had soaked wd40 into the screws the best I could to loosen the screws and found the problem. I may have to resort to some kind of solvent to loosen the other two blades, or meybe a little heat to soften the glue. I really want to save the paint on the wheel. I think the blades can be saved, shimming may be necessary after the blades are sharpened to the correct angle.
Meybe i will get mine to work right
bob

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Dam.. you have your work cut out for you. Mine was $100.00 and worked great right out of the box. I took the blades off anyway and sharpened them. What a fine piece of craftsmanship.

Randy B

 

[DrBob]

Thanks again Randy
The teck 1 is an interesting machine. The tolerances for it to work right are tight and replacement parts do not exist. I know I have my work cut out for me. I may be better off to find another one. Could you get the blade to bed clearance for me? Meybe they have to touch.
Bob

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I'll measure and get back to you later today

 

[DrBob]

I got all 3 blades off. They were all painted with glue of some sort. I am guessing the glue was applied as a shim material. I soaked em all in paint remover and cleaned aii traces of glue from the blades. then I sharpened the edges at 22 degrees, cutting as little material as possible and re assembled the machine. The bed to blade clearance is .006 on 2 blades .003 on 1 blade. I am going to get some shim stock (beer can) material should do the trick. Fun emptying them too.
bob

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Those tolerances look great, that machine should be capable of a nice fine grind like a moist snuff too right?

 

[SmokesAhoy]

I bet you guys could set up a service just shredding whole leaf for people that haven't made the plunge yet but still want a professional shred.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I'll measure and get back to you later today

Bob, I couldn't get anything in there to measure due to the tightness and confounding angles. I can tell you though that I was just barely able to get a piece of printer paper between the blades and the end of the shredder. The blades almost touch the end of the frame!

 

[DrBob]

Randy
common typing paper is about .002 thick, business cards are about .006 thick. I am going to shim to .002 or meybe a little tighter. Thanks a lot for your help. My teck 1 has the markings NU1 in the side what that means I do not know.
I measured how it cuts paper strips, it takes 12.6 revolutions to cut 1 inch of paper strip or 38 blade passes giving me a shred thickness of .0263 which is a nice shag which rolls nicely with my topomatic.

I think that with a little tweaking I will have it going just fine tomorrow. If it will replace my paper shredder I do not know, time will tell. Thanks again for your help
Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

The NU1 is likely the German: Nummer 1 (number 1).

Bob

EDIT: I had an afterthought. If it is actually "NU!", then it would mean "Now!" or "in a jiffy."

Bob

 

[DrBob]

number 1 makes sense to me The sucker was number 2 when I first got it. The fix wasnt that hard when I got the right bevel angle.
The Doctor
It does not cut in a jiffy yet time will tell

 

[Daniel]

Bob, glad you found the angel without a lot of trying and retrying. Blades only have so much wear in them. Hopefully it will not require a lot of resharpening over the years.

Based upon the following info. a common ream of copier paper is about 2.5 inches thick and contains 500 sheets. this makes a single sheet 0.005 inches thick not 0.002. You are off by over half. Wanted to add that if you are using copier Paper as a shim. Beer can is going to be a bit thicker than that. Aluminum foil will work as a shim and is probably closer to the thickness you need. problem is it is soft and will thin out as you tighten the screws. Remeasure your gap after the blades are mounted.

 

[DrBob]

Thank you dan
I measured my paper by comparing to a feeler gauge. I measured my bed to cutting blade clearances with feeler gauges. The paper reference was a way of calculating randy's reference of barely fitting a piece of paper between the bed and the blade.
I will be shimming my blades with stainless steel shim stock, not paper or aluminum
bob

 

[DrBob]

the shim stock I am giong to use is feeler gauges. A new set cost me $4.99 and they are almost the perfect size. All I have to do is punch a new hole screw em in and good to go! no cuttin no dikken.... easy peasey. problem solved!
The Doctor

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Bob, What is the gap on your Teck 1 now?
Randy B