Cleaning a Unicorn

[steven c newman]

As that is what I use....the cloth wheel is no longer white.....but a nasty black colour. Strange, because I use only a Green Compound on that wheel...

Short of buying a new wheel ( it is only 2 years old..) any ideas about cleaning it up? Or just let it run as is?
Clean & Sharpen Day, grinder.JPG
6" wheels....

[David Carroll]

The black color is (I believe) the particles of steel that the green compound has removed. When ours at work get all loaded like that, we have a raking tool. (Looks like rows of saw teeth embedded in a block of wood) and that wears down the wheel a bit and removes most of the compound. It also fluffs the wheel back up a bit. It does accelerate wear, so if you change compounds a lot, and rake between them, your wheel will not last as long. Raking also makes a real mess. throws the cotton fibers and bits of dirty compound everywhere.

If it's still working, I wouldn't change it.

DC

[Stew Denton]

Hi Steven,

I am +1 with David. In my case it seems like it takes very little time until one of those cloth wheels turns very black. Thus, like David, I would use it until it doesn't do the job any more.

For what it's worth, I have 4 different cloth wheels, one for each of the 4 types of compound in my set of wax blocks of compound. That way, hopefully, I don't use an aggressive type of compound on some soft metal like brass. I just need to be sure to change them out as need be rather than take the lazy approach and use which ever one is in the grinder.

Regards,

Stew

[Eric Brown]

I agree with others. If it is really a heavy buildup, hang a tarp or something to catch the debris and use a strong, stiff tool, like a board or the end of a large file. Keep it positioned on the bottom of the wheel. Wear a mask. Please.