Heat damage to blades when grinding...

[ian maybury]

Ta Mike, will have to check that out. Another snippet from last night prompted by the thought of aluminium. (although WTW's rims are so thick it's unlikely to be an issue) Seems it's not unknown for a machinist to put dents in the working surface of some of these wheels when machining the bore leading to three 'bumps' - sounds like some care is needed when chucking them, at least the ones with thinner rims..

[Mike Holbrook]

WTW offers a set of three washers or two sets of three for two wheels that may help with wheel wobble issues. My D-Way wheel is a thread or two oversized for my Delta arbor, using the supplied bushing and huge washer. My WTW wheel is not quite wide enough to reach to the threaded area and nut. I ordered the WTW double set of washers hoping to get that perfect fit and balance both wheels in the process. "The spherical washers act as a ball and socket to compensate for slight misalignment and to eliminate undue stresses from the shaft nut".

I guess time will tell in regard to using aluminum for the wheels. It worries me a little in terms of the metals hardness but if the plating works better, it reduces weight and possibly dissipates heat better the positives should outweigh the negative. Ken did tell me he has been testing his new wheels a while so hopefully there will not be any big surprises.

[ian maybury]

I guess it'd be important that aluminium wheels didn't result in any risk of displacement or tear out of grits. The softer material mght be more prone to getting scraped or gouged, but that should only happen if the grits were somehow removed by which point the damage would probably already be done anyway. Presuming a decent bond the grade of alloy could make a big difference. A decent heat treated high strength alloy should have very comparable strength to mild steel, but it tends to be quite a bit more flexible/less rigid.

The relatively light pressure required to get good cutting and the low drag/friction should help a lot, but time will tell...

[Reinis Kanders]

I received my new wheel and a grinder yesterday. Wheel is 180 grit 4in1 from the woodturners wonders (WTW), grinder is Steel City industrial 8 inch low speed grinder.
Wheel is lighter than I thought it would be. Mounting it was a bit of a fiddle because it has in-between size of 1.25", Arbor had too much space even with the spherical washer set from the WTW. I actually ended up using a flange washer from the grinder to make things work until a more permanent solution. So in conclusion I wish I had bought a wider 1.5" simple radius edge wheel made from steel, which I will do for my 80 grit wheel. Advantage of this smaller wheel is that I can grind on the sides and wheel guards fit. I think I will use the wheel guard to keep the dust to minimum since this grinder has a dust port. Wheel does grind nicely, vibration is minimal, etc. I did not do any extensive grinding yet because I need to setup Tormek grinder rest.
Steel City grinder is pretty decent. Has thick, big machined arbor flange washers, that have weights in them to tweak wheel stability. Grinder is quiet even with the stock wheels. Pretty decent, no Baldor, but way better than my old 8 in Ryobi.

[Mike Holbrook]

Interesting that the Steel City grinders arbor was still too long even with the WTW washer kit. My Delta Variable speed's arbor was just a few threads too long to work with just a bolt & 1 1/4" wheel. It should be fine with the WTW kit. The 1.5" D-way wheel is a couple threads too wide with the large washer and bushing that came with it. I hope I can work out a little better fit with my other WTW washer kit, which I hope to get later today. The D-Way washer is about 1/8" wide and the bushing on the other side protrudes about the same amount, so together they use 1/4" of arbor space. Apparently the arbors on these machines can be significantly different in length.

Ian I am wondering if the electroplating might be the determining factor in terms of grit staying put? If so, the aluminum, according to the WTW information, actually enhances that process.

[David Weaver]

You guys who are turners could probably make a pretty nice washer out of brass or corian.

[Steve Friedman]

Mike,

Did you end up getting two wheel? One D-Way and one WTW? I am torn between them. I like the flat on the side of the WTW, but not crazy about losing 1/4" of width. On the other hand, my grinder is only 1/2 HP, so the lighter weight wheel may be a big plus.

Steve

[David Weaver]

I have the wide one from WTW, and my arbor nut is only halfway on (it's tight though). I'd rather (on a 6" grinder) have the 1 1/4" wide wheel, as the one I have is 1 1/2.

[Steve Friedman]

I have the wide one from WTW, and my arbor nut is only halfway on (it's tight though). I'd rather (on a 6" grinder) have the 1 1/4" wide wheel, as the one I have is 1 1/2.

Why? Just because of the extra weight or because the shaft is so short?

Steve

[David Weaver]

Because the shaft of the baldor is short. Weight doesn't appear to be a problem.

To be honest, I'm perfectly happy with it, anyway. It's a new product that does just what it advertises, and is really nicely made. I wouldn't buy another one just because of the width, it's not as if it's going to come off.

[Mike Holbrook]

Yes Steve, I have a D-Way 1 1/2" 180 and a WTW 1 1/4" (4 Way) 350. I was out of town touring colleges with my daughter for a couple days and have not had a chance to test them yet. I just got the washers I ordered from WTW today and spent the little time I had playing around with them. I will be calling Ken with a question or two about those tomorrow. If I like these wheels as much as I think I will I may buy an 80 grit wheel for my Tormek. I'm not sure if WTW makes a wheel to fit my Tormek but I understand D-Way does. I run a 12 acre dog park and have lots of tools other than woodworking tools to sharpen: hoes, shovels, axes, splitting mauls, machettes/kukras, shears, mower blades, scythes.... I also like green woodworking which employs inshaves, large gouges, spokeshaves ( one of mine has a 5" blade), travishers, adzes, axes, drawknives...I may have more to sharpen than the average woodworker.

I like the 1" flat edge on the WTW wheel, I'm not sure how much I will actually use it but it is nice to know I can grind a flat bevel/side...if I decide I want/need to. I don't think the 1/4" difference in width will be significant. The 1 1/4" wheel definitely fits on the Delta arbor much better even using the extra wide 3 washer set from WTW. Apparently the Delta arbor is a little longer than David's 6" Baldor arbor, as the nut on my D-Way 1 1/2" wheel makes it through all but maybe one nut thread which I imagine is plenty secure. My arbor has 2- 2 1/8" available for wheel, washers & nuts.

[Mike Holbrook]

I don't have a tool rest yet, but I could not resist trying out the CBN wheels on a real blade. I took the Stanley SW blade out of my #5, the longest blade I have, and worked it lightly on the 350 CBN wheel.

Just what I was hoping for. I immediately see the result of the wheel on the bevel of the plane blade. One of the difficult things for me in the past was grinding away on the Tormek, or a coarse waterstone for quite a while and not seeing much result until I finally figured out my bevel was not where I wanted it. Because these wheels cut so much faster it is much easier to see the results of even a single light pass over the wheel. With the slower cutting mediums all those extra swipes tend to hide the over all pattern being created. The feedback, even with the 350 grit stone, is immediate.

Of course the other missing piece of the puzzle in my situation is a tool rest that will allow me to repeat passes at the same distance and angle to the stone. I am taking the fact that Lee Valley just posted a free shipping offer as a sign and ordering a Veritas Basic Grinding set which includes: the tool rest, a grinding jig and the jig for setting angles.

[Steve Friedman]

I don't have a tool rest yet, but I could not resist trying out the CBN wheels on a real blade. I took the Stanley SW blade out of my #5, the longest blade I have, and worked it lightly on the 350 CBN wheel.

Just what I was hoping for. I immediately see the result of the wheel on the bevel of the plane blade. One of the difficult things for me in the past was grinding away on the Tormek, or a coarse waterstone for quite a while and not seeing much result until I finally figured out my bevel was not where I wanted it. Because these wheels cut so much faster it is much easier to see the results of even a single light pass over the wheel. With the slower cutting mediums all those extra swipes tend to hide the over all pattern being created. The feedback, even with the 350 grit stone, is immediate.

Of course the other missing piece of the puzzle in my situation is a tool rest that will allow me to repeat passes at the same distance and angle to the stone. I am taking the fact that Lee Valley just posted a free shipping offer as a sign and ordering a Veritas Basic Grinding set which includes: the tool rest, a grinding jig and the jig for setting angles.

Don't you just love it when you get signs like that?

Thanks for the report on the wheels. I was actually thinking of getting the 180 and 350 from Ken because the cost of the second one is only $150, but then I would need two platforms.

Just another FYI for anyone (like me) with an odd-ball 7" grinder. Dave indicated that he makes a 7" wheel, albeit without the rounded edge. I'm going to get an 8" because it will fit with the housing removed.

I am really tempted to try the Robo Rest rather than the Tormek jigs because of the cost difference and simplicity of setting the angle, but think the Tormek may be worth the extra cost just to reduce the human error factor in getting repeatable results.

Steve

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Steve

Get the Tormek rig. Look at the set up I have. I can switch between the blade holder, which creates a perfectly even grind, or I can slip on the flat tool rest, and use it like a regular tool rest. The Tormek angle finder enables you to set exact and repeatable angles very easily. And then you also have the option of all the other Tormek jigs.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Steve Friedman]

Hi Steve

Get the Tormek rig. Look at the set up I have. I can switch between the blade holder, which creates a perfectly even grind, or I can slip on the flat tool rest, and use it like a regular tool rest. The Tormek angle finder enables you to set exact and repeatable angles very easily. And then you also have the option of all the other Tormek jigs.

Regards from Perth

Thanks Derek. Sounds like the right move.

Steve