Any videos of the stone thickness compensator attachment?

I didn’t do the video Marc lists, but the thread is correct.  I used the SWAT adapters for about three years and can testify to their accuracy.  There are a couple of points I’d add:

When adjusting the SWAT plate to the stone, press the SWAT plate firmly against the stone, while holding the SWAT plate perpendicular to the angle bar.  The less movement seen when you tighten the screw, the more accurately the SWAT will replicate the angle.

When using the micro-adjusts to align the stone with the face of the SWAT plate, pinch the far end of the rod tightly against the SWAT plate with the thumb and index finger of your other hand.  If you don’t apply enough pressure, it will be easier to over-tighten the micro-adjusts and force the rod away from parallel.  Back off on the adjustment until you can see daylight between the stone and the SWAT plate.  Then tighten the micro-adjust screw until you feel the stone make solid contact with the face of the SWAT plate.  Solid contact equals solid replication of the angle.

I was able to hold angles to easily less than 0.15 degrees, and probably to less than 0.10, with an array of stones that varied enough in thickness to require adjustments with every grit change.  Now, I have happily graduated to a Gen 3 Pro (2017), using the new rods and handles, which don’t seem to need stone-to-stone adjustments.

Everybody’s got a neuroses or two.  Mine are that I hate talking on the telephone or to appear in videos.

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Organic, wickededge, Mark76, Marc H

graphite wrote:

Thank you both. I now understand the principles behind it. Just thinking out loud, but I wonder if it would help the issue of the VSTA moving slightly when the set screw is tightened, if instead the set screw was in the vertical position, tightening down on the top of the angle bar, rather than tightening in the horizontal position, against the side of the angle bar. It seems that might confine the movement of the VSTA to the vertical plane where it doesn’t matter, as opposed to the horizontal plane where it does matter. Or at least, the way I’m imagining it without actually having one, it would seem that might redirect the error/movement when tightening the set screw to a plane where it doesn’t matter. I could definitely be wrong though.

I tried modifying my SWATs to use of a vertical screw, only to find out that they wouldn’t hold the SWAT to the angle bar solidly enough or without too much movement. If you look closely at my photos, you can see the unused hole above the rod.

The fact is that any slight movement in the SWAT while tightening it is negligible in effect.  What’s important is that you achieve uniformity in angle.  If one bevel is at 20.1 degrees, while the other side is at 19.85 degrees, who is going to notice the difference??  The inclusive angle will still be within 0.1 degrees of the 40 intended.  How much must the angle be off before anyone can notice it??

Bottom line is that the exact location of the SWAT is less important than how consistent you are in adjusting stones to it.

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Marc H