Sharpening Angles-How to calc

[ahidley]

I have an air spindle and was playing with it sharpening some keycutters. Some of these key cutters have teeth at an angle. After a few trys they seemend to be grinding correctly at 1 degree. So the question is : when setting up a grinder for an angle how do you measure the cutting edges angle?

[Rosco-P]

If you've read any of the texts on sharpening, like the one from KO Lee, Woodruff cutters would be held in a conventional workhead for sharpening. If the teeth are not perpendicular to the shank, simply angle the workhead on the table. I don't see where an air bearing fixture would be necessary or an advantage. A Woodruff cutter is just a small milling cutter. Primary angle and clearance is measured by a cutter gage like the one made by Starrett #459. Page #4 in this pdf: http://www.starrett.com/download/311_p343_348.pdf

[ahidley]

Thnaks for the reply. That is also a desirable tool for sharpening. Before I saw that I would just eyeball it. That will be on the wish list.
The reason for using the air bearing is that it is the only holding fixture that I have that has a finger to locate each cutting edge at the same point. I just did not move it with the air bearing I moved the table instead. It seemed to work ok