Vetako Ermak-10 User manual

USER MANUAL
for the Ermak-10 knife sharpener
Warning:
The sharpener is made from extruded acrylic (organic glass). It is a very nice and durable
material, but it requires the user to follow a few simple rules.
1. Never use organic solvents for cleaning the sharpener (alcohol, petrol, acetone, White
Spirit, etc.) or washing up detergents as they contain aggressive surfactants. These
substances damage the finish, making it look mat and the parts will start cracking. Use only
water and ordinary soap foam for the cleaning.
2. Protect the sharpener from impact and falling on hard surfaces.
3. Do not use excessive force when working with the sharpener. If suddenly something
becomes stiff, check that you have loosened all necessary screws and that there are no
unwanted objects under the moving parts.
4. Try to avoid intensive water penetration on the bearings. Even though they are covered, it is
better not to expose them to excessive ingress. This especially refers to the bearing inside the
tower. All the steel construction parts, including all fixings, are made from stainless steel and
brass.
5. There is no need to lubricate the sharpener, lubricant is, in fact, not advised as it can retain
abrasive particles.
6. Beware of the magnets - they are very strong.Slide the knife gradually, starting with the tip
of the blade and working towards the heel! When taking the knife off, work backwards by first
sliding in the heel of the blade, moving towards the tip. If you try to attach or take off the entire
blade at one time, sudden strong jerk could cause you injury or damage the magnetic holders.
7. Before you start, cover the magnets on the holders using masking tape. This way, the blade
will be protected from scratches, the contact between the blade and the holder will improve
and it is possible to make marks on the tape for stable blade positioning during sharpening if
necessary.
8. Do not attempt to tighten the clamping screws at any cost - they have been mounted using
a dynamometer and there is no need to tighten them regularly during the entire life of the
sharpener. Trying to tighten them harder may lead to excessive strain and consequently to
cracking. If, for some reason, one of the clamping screws is loose, tighten it only lightly by
rotating the screwdriver using just two fingers.
By following these simple rules, the sharpener will literally serve you for many years
and you can enjoy its flawless operation and appearance.

The Ermak-10 knife sharpener represents the latest design, which involved several years of
work and experimenting in the development of sharpeners. It reflects the demands of many
users who own sharpeners of my production. And not only mine but also of many other
famous designers.
The construction is actually a "kit", which can be assembled for the specific purposes using
gentle hand movement. The frame of the construction is the "base".
It contains all the main parts of a sharpener, with the exception of the table for placing the tool
to be sharpened. The end user will receive the base as 3 main parts, disassembled and
packed in a box. base with an adjustable tower joined with a platform, handle and a stone arm.
To be able to assemble the sharpener, you must carry out two operations in the following
order:
1. Use the DIN912 M6x20 screw, which is screwed to the top of the tower during transport, to
fix the handle to the tower. There is no need for azimuth alignment, just screw it tightly in the
opening in the tower using a HEX key.
2. Insert the vertical rod down through the bearings of the handle and tighten it using the
DIN985 M5 lock nut (with a nylon insert). This operation must be carried out carefully and with
conscious awareness of the whole process. To avoid damaging the handle joint, the nut must
be tightened slowly, checking the vertical axial clearance until its complete disappearance. Do
not attempt to tighten the nut completely. It is impossible! By using too much leverage, you
could damage the joint.

Once assembled, set the sharpener into the initial working position. Loosen the 4 wing nuts on
the edges of the platform and turning the cogwheel adjuster counter-clockwise set the angle
of the base to approx. 20-30 degrees. Before changing the angle of the table, do not forget to
loosen the fixing wing nuts by about half a turn and tighten them again before use once you
have set the required angle. No excessive force is required during the tightening, the use of
only two fingers is sufficient. There are fluoropolymer washers between the wing bolts and the
joint to minimise frictional force, therefore tightening is very easy.
The E10 sharpener, when compared to the E7-E9 models, does not come with adjustable legs
as there is no need for it to be levelled. This sharpener has rubber stick-on pads on the
platform. It must be stable on the table without "rocking". Levelling is not required. To
determine the angle of sharpening (do not forget that the sharpening angle on the table is set
at half), just turn the cogwheel adjuster until the mark on the side of the platform meets the
mark on the side scale.
The precision of the scale allows you to determine the sharpening angle to an accuracy of
0.25 degrees (the position of the pointer between the 0.5 degree increments on the scale).
This should be sufficient even for the most demanding users. Should any of the three blade
tables be changed, the sharpening angle will not alter! It will stay constant!
All our sharpeners now come with a non-removable cogwheel cover, free of charge. The
adjustment controls are now more compact and more comfortable, especially when working
with magnetic holders. The large cogwheel used to noticeably obstruct working with the wing
nuts when releasing the clamps, especially when working with the middle support nut. This

nut is now absent - it has been replaced with a guide surface, which has significantly
simplified working with and the removal of the middle support.
At first sight, the blade tables that come with your chosen sharpener kit only slightly differ
from the previous E7-E9 sharpener constructions, but the differences are there, especially
with regards to the clamps.
The table for carpentry tools is exactly the same as previous models, in this case it is difficult
to improve anything. There has been a change in the positioning of the dorsal stop marks as
they are now applied using laser engraving and not glued as before. This makes the mark
reading easier as they are always visible and the stops themselves have a more complex
shape with a little step, which also serves as a scale pointer. There is now only one
transparent slider under the stop, with its step being in the right cut-out of the dorsal stop.
The biggest change can be seen on the table with clamps, which is now much more
interesting. There are no flat springs on the clamps, they are now more compact and
ergonomic. Even the construction itself is much lighter. The most important thing is that the
clamp-blade triangle can be easily removed with a single action and necessary adjustments
can be made to the blade: examine under a microscope, wash in a basin or anything else
required. You can see a visual demonstration of this process in a video that can be found
through a link in the description of the sharpener. Follow these instructions to place the blade
into the clamps.

1. Bolts for clamping the blade. They are designed for clamping the blade and preliminary
fixing of the clamps' position.
2. Bolts for fixing the clamps' position.
3. The adjusting bolts (do not tighten) prevent the clamps from rotating and also limit their
horizontal movement using symmetrical grooves on the guide plate. After having loosened the
adjustment bolts, the clamps can be moved to one side.
To clamp and place the blade, follow these instructions:
•Set the required distance between the clamps and then place the blade inside them.
•Fix the blade in place using the bolts no.1 to prevent it from slipping out.
•Place the clamp-blade triangle onto the revolving tilting table platform.

•Place the blade table with the blade on the platform and tighten it up using the wing nuts.
•Move the stand-ruler to the cutting edge of the blade (see picture above).
•Read the values for the cutting edge and ruler.
•Turn the blade on the supports 180 degrees.
•Read the values on the ruler again.
•Set the average value.
•Leave the blade in the clamps, lightly move both of them up or down to achieve the required
average value.
•Check the position of the blade using the ruler.
•Repeat the steps if necessary.
•Once you have reached the desired result, tighten bolts no.1, do not press on the clamps
themselves to prevent them from moving.
•Tighten bolts no.2 - they will fully fix the clamps into position.
•Get ready to sharpen.
Tip: do not try to achieve an ideal symmetry (i.e. accurate to the micrometer) of the blade
when turning. It is not necessary. Perfectionism is a good thing but to a reasonable degree.
Try to carry out measuring from the central part of the blade placed opposite the centre of the
rotating clamps. By the way, the options for adjusting the rotation symmetry can be used in
the case of adjusting the width of the taper towards the cutting edge to compensate the
asymmetry of the sharpening.
Otherwise the use of the sharpener is no different to the E8 or E9 models. The motion
kinematics are the same but the weight of the entire motion system has dropped significantly
due to the decrease in the amount of metal used in this area. However, it has not reflected at
all in its stiffness. It is basically better looking and visually lighter. Also the handle on the stone
arm has been improved. It is now easier to hold and feels nicer in the hand. The magnetic
holders have also been changed. For very light clamping, the supports can be turned with the
magnets facing down. Just unscrew the bolts in the support axis (there are no lock nuts, they
now use brass inserts). The removal has now been significantly simplified. However, I do not
think that this adjustment will be made regularly, rather as an exception. The clamping table
comes with clamps for 3mm thick blades, which covers approx. 80-90% of all blades. For
thicker blades, it is necessary to purchase a different set.