How to mill down grand

[PNW Rider]

I have at my disposal quite a few tools... Can anyone suggest something better than using a file and a belt sander? My Odin will be here tomorrow and my new (replacement) grand is not an LP despite ordering an LP. (Not Rob's fault)

This is the only Reo, (or ecig at all) that I have and I thought I would be back in business today. Rob has offered to mill the new grand for free including shipping but that's 5 days if I'm lucky....

 

[PNW Rider]

Disc sander??? I found a few threads in searching after the fact... Sorry I'm just feeling incredibly defeated over everything surrounding this new Reo. I liked my old dented up one before it was stolen... Although I don't care what color my Reo is, this new one is beyond badass. It was/is a blem and I had no idea what color to expect until I opened it.

 

[PNW Rider]

Copper vein? Anyways it needs LP'ing ASAP...

 

[FACE MEAT]

Disc sander???

Yep.

Copper vein? Anyways it needs LP'ing ASAP...

Yep.

 

[PNW Rider]

Anyone got a picture of an LP or a caliper measurement that I can base my work off of?

 

[PNW Rider]

Obviously I'm going to go slower than faster keep checking it along the way... I've never even seen an LP, just don't want to go too far.

 

[pesky_human]

A Disc sander would be fine. I would set up a jig to get it true square. I am going to be doing mine in the next couple of days when I can get into the shop. I will use a knife grinder, which is a 2x72 belt grinder with a flat platen and I am anticipating that it will take me around a half hour to set up perfect, grind, and clean up. Will probably start with a 60 grit belt and then take it to 120. The face is basically ending up covered up with the atty anyway. I will maybe stick it on a buffer for a minute to get it shiny and de-burr with a surface plate and some fine sandpaper. Getting it square is key (and not taking off too much material, which with aluminum and power tools is a real concern). If you can get a block jig set up and test on something to make sure you have right angles, you could feasibly do it with a belt sander. . .

 

[pdib]

On the disc sander, you need be careful not to slide it around in it's own dust and scratch up the side it's laying on. Maybe cover that side with tape or something.

I was gonna do my next one on the chopsaw. Carbide tooth blade . . . .. afterwards a slightly dull carbide tooth blade. I would put a sacrificial fence across the saw for added support tho, the mod being small for such an operation.

And, put a small tab of bluetape on the rim of your 510. When you hit tape, stop. When I disc sanded mine, I marked the 510 rim with black sharpie and stopped at first sign of sharpie-gone.

 

[PNW Rider]

I thought disc sanders oscillated and/or vibrated which wouldn't make it easy. I was hoping to find a disc sanding bit for a drill... Hasn't Google this yet but sounds like it should be a thing... The more I talk about this the more I want to send the thing back to Rob...

 

[PNW Rider]

This would be great but I don't have one....

 

[pdib]

that's a disc sander. a 12" disc sander.

 

[mackman]

Here's one I did on a bench grinder and polished it with #500 wet/dry sandpaper. As others have said keeping the catch cup square is paramount. The depth on this one came out to .90mm
Edit: It took about 15 minutes to complete this including the polishing.

 

[Filthy-Beast]

A regular and an LP comparison

Any sander will work the key is hold the Reo square while doing it and do not let it build up too much heat.

 

[PNW Rider]

Thank you everyone. My neighbor has a smaller disc sander apparently and hopefully a way to measure the depth of the cup... I will shoot for just over 1mm depth. Then adjust if necessary.

 

[darren molnar]

aluminium is a nice soft metal to work with. A new hand file would do the job faster than you might imagine it to. Using a hand file also eliminates the stress of going too far too fast.

 

[SITS]

I thought disc sanders oscillated and/or vibrated which wouldn't make it easy. I was hoping to find a disc sanding bit for a drill... Hasn't Google this yet but sounds like it should be a thing... The more I talk about this the more I want to send the thing back to Rob...

I haven't read the rest of the thread yet but sending it back and let Robert work on it is the smart way to go, imo.

 

[pesky_human]

This would be great but I don't have one.... View attachment 377703

That's what I ended up using today. Because of the shape, it was tough to mark up, so I just kind of eyeballed it until I was close and then just took off another couple of layers. It was a piece of cake. Since it's aluminum, it gets hot rather fast, particularly if the abrasive isn't really fresh and sharp. All in all, though, with cool down periods, it took about 15 minutes. I took the bottle, delrin cover, and button out, de-burred the grind by hand with a piece of 600 grit sandpaper, and ran it under hot water to get any errant shavings out. Slapped it back together and put one of my Odins on it with a .94 ohm double coil using 9 wraps per side with 30g Kanthal. Works perfectly.

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

Nicely done, sir.

 

[pesky_human]

Thank you everyone. My neighbor has a smaller disc sander apparently and hopefully a way to measure the depth of the cup... I will shoot for just over 1mm depth. Then adjust if necessary.

It's a lot easier if you have a second LP to compare it to. Otherwise, you will need to get the measurement of an LP cup from somebody and try to mark it off. Honestly, it's really easy to eyeball it. As long as you don't take off too much and hit the 510 connection, you can test it with the atty of your choice to make sure you have a good connection and just stop there.

 

[pesky_human]

Nicely done, sir.

Thanks! I now need to get another big atty to use on my OG black wrinkle, and then grind it down as well. Or I could sell it, which I am thinking about too. Maybe get another SL. . .