I just received a Norton 3X60-1 grinding wheel for my Jet 8" bench grinder. The grinder came with two general purpose grey aluminum oxide wheels, but I wanted to upgrade to the cooler grinding wheel. The problem is that the new wheel wobbles and makes the whole rig bounce around a bit, whereas the original wheels run smooth as silk with no vibration whatever. The motion is not only front to back, but side to side as well.

The originals are bored to 5/8 inch, the Norton to 1' with a series of concentric bushings. These may be part of the problem, as the the wheel doesn't seat as solidly with them as the originals. There was no play in the originals before tightening the arbor nut, whereas there is a slight amount with the new wheel.

Is this a matter of being out of balance? I see that Lee Valley has a wheel balancing kit, but it's not exactly cheap, about $50 to do 2 wheels.

Could the bushings be at fault? I don't know how the wheel could run smoothly if not fitted properly to the arbor, but then again I don't see Norton selling wheels that wouldn't work on most grinders either.

The wheel was supposed to come with a diamond dresser, but it didn't make it into the box. Even so, that wouldn't fix the side to side wobble, and wouldn't help if the bushings are at fault.

Does anyone have any ideas on this?

Dan