Cat Claw Rock/cam Question

[Gere Flewelling]

I have had my catclaw sharpener since 2017. I have only been sharpening my own Super Sharp band up until this year. My sharpener came with the cam #7/8DTSS 8deg. cam.  I noticed right away that the cam wasn't even close to the original gullet profile of the SS bands.  It changed the profile to a much sharper angle at the bottom of the face.  The bands always cut fine so I never paid much attention to the change.  I am now working at getting a sharpening service established in my area and have been sharpening numerous brands of bands. I ordered a Woodmizer cam #7/8 WM Turbo to hopefully match some of the WM bands that I have been sharpening. I put my original DTSS cam on a piece of paper and traced it using the small holes as reference points. When I put the Turbo cam on the paper it seemed to match the original cam exactly. Thought that seemed odd. I just continue to swap the cams for the brands I am sharpening.  I have experimented with the ruby and black stones along with the blue ceramic rocks.  Black rocks are bad. The smell really bad and turned my shop black. Lesson learned! The ruby seems to work well. The original blue is fine also. I haven't found a favorite between red and blue yet. I have been studying the grinding action as it is sharpening and have concluded that there is no adjustment that can be made to the cam to keep the bottom of the tooth face from grinding out square.  I did try rounding the left face of a rock once to match the SS gullet profile with some success. I am conscious of Cook's advisory about keeping the left side of the rock square.  I am wondering if any others have made these observations and have been successful at matching some of the features of new bands to keep them shaped the way they are designed. I have some potential new customers that are full time operators who have been using the WM Re-Sharp service.  I suspect they might be concerned if there bands come back with different shape gullets.  I am reluctant to purchase more cams if they are all shaped like the ones I already have.  Thinking about doing some modifications to one of my existing cams to better match the grinding of the back of the tooth.  Any experience or suggestions would be appreciated.  I can't justify another CBN style grinder so am hoping to make the most of the quality machine I have. ???

[YellowHammer]

I reground several cams to match WM profiles.  It's pretty easy.  

[LeeB]

Shaping the rock is a big part of the battle. It's one I have never fully won. Personally I like the ruby rock over the blue one and lately I have gone back to using the brown rock that WM offers for their drag sharpeners. It seems to wear a little less than the others to me. I too have a Cat Claw. 

[barbender]

Cats Claw cams are easy to reshape, get out your files😊

[YellowHammer]

I used to get a Sharpie, put the cam rotation on dead slow and, put a brand new band on and closely watch for when the rock would lift off the band and quickly mark the cam with the Sharpie with a line until the cam continued around and the rock would set down again.  Then I'd take a side grinder or even a file and grind down where the Sharpie marks were.  Then repeat again and again.  Before long the cam was shaped correctly and would follow the entire profile.  It's equally important to have the exact same grind shape on the rock, so I would take a plastic ruler or other stiff piece and push it into the rock behind and it would quickly cut it's profile into the plastic.  

[Gere Flewelling]

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. I will do some experimenting on one of the cams as suggested.  I am also going to stock up on some new grind stones "just doesn't sound right to call them rocks".  If I can get one shaped on the left side of the stone to follow the Cook's SS profile, I will just save it for when I have some of those to sharpen.  One good feature of the Cat Claw Sharpener is that there are so many ways to adjust it to match the variety of gullet profiles out there. Just have to take time to slowly make adjustments prior to letting it go into its sharpening sequence.  And most importantly for me, remember what I did the next time around. Really enjoying the challenge sharpening for others.  Thanks again GF