Quorn Tool and Cutter Grinder

Overview
A tool and cutter grinder is used by machinists to create new cutting tools and sharpen old ones to remove metal when machining parts. In 1974 Professor D. H. Chaddock saw a need for an inexpensive tool and cutter grinder for the home hobby machinist and the Quorn TCG was born. The fabrication of the Quorn was originally covered in a series of articles in the British publication Model Engineering.

If you are interested in making your own Quorn, castings, plans, and a reprint of the original articles in book form are available from sources listed in the appendix.

Now that you know what a Quorn is, follow along as I attempt to turn some rough castings into a useful machine. Prior to cutting metal, I like to create a solid model of the parts in AutoCAD. For me, the process of creating the individual parts in CAD is very much like the machining process to fabricate the actual parts. I find that after making the CAD model, I have a much better understanding of the relationship between the individual parts, as well as very good understanding of the sequence of machining operations that will be needed to actually fabricate the part. My model is available for download.

Construction Logs
I've broken down the parts into groups much the same as Professor Chaddock. In each group, I'll be creating pages for the individual parts documenting the fabrication of each part starting with the CAD model. On the left in each group is an image of the CAD model for that part group. Moving your mouse over the individual part links to the right of the image will highlight that part in the model. If the part has a construction log, you can click on the part number link to go to the log.

Recently Updated Construction Logs

Guide to the construction logs below:
    Finished parts have no decoration
    • Denotes work in progress
    ~ Denotes pages coming soon

The Ball Handles
It's been said that operating the Quorn is "like shaking hands with an octopus" because of the number of ball handles present on the machine. Fabricating the ball handles is a right of passage, so follow my ascension into the ranks of the worthy.

Split Cotters
One significant change from Chaddock's original design is my use of cotters instead of splitting the castings and using the ball handles to squeeze the split shut to allow adjustments. The cotter page details the creation of the cotters and the modifications made to the castings and design to accommodate them.

The Base

The Tooth Rest

The Wheelhead

The Workhead

The Spindle

The Spiraling Toolholder

The GP Toolholder

TO DO

• Martin Model 5C Spiraling Toolholder
• Martin Model 5C GP Toolholder
• Assembled Quorn Photos

Quorn castings, plans, and the above articles reprinted in book form are available from the following sources (and probably others):