Grinding Wheels

[cfellows]

I got my tool & cutter grinder put back together today and wanted to touch up the tungsten scribing tip on my height gauge. I have several silicon carbide grinding wheels, but they are really slow when it comes to grinding tungsten carbide. I've never owned a diamond grit grinding wheel, but now may be the time. Can any of you folks experienced with diamond wheels recommend a grit and density I should look for? I'm thinking a 4" cup wheel would be about right.

I'd welcome any and all suggestions.

Thx...
Chuck

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

Chuck my only experience with diamond wheels is the cheapy one I bought from CDCO for my HF Baldor-clone.

Allegedly it's a 140 concentration/180 grit and it's a 6" dia. wheel. It has worked well for me so far fixing chipped carbide tools. You can't hog with it but it seems to me to be a decent compromise between stock removal rate and finish quality.

I'm no expert by any means but it is at least some feedback to your question. ;D

 

[cfellows]

Chuck my only experience with diamond wheels is the cheapy one I bought from CDCO for my HF Baldor-clone.

Allegedly it's a 140 concentration/180 grit and it's a 6" dia. wheel. It has worked well for me so far fixing chipped carbide tools. You can't hog with it but it seems to me to be a decent compromise between stock removal rate and finish quality.

I'm no expert by any means but it is at least some feedback to your question. ;D

Thanks for the response. I'm beginning to think not too many amateurs use diamond grinding wheels. Not surprising when looking at the price for them at Enco, etal. There is a vendor on Ebay that is selling 4" diamond cup wheels for $12.49 + about $12 for shipping. Still a lot cheaper than $150 and up at Enco. Problem is, a lot of times when you buy cheap, you get cheap!


Chuck

 

[Blogwitch]

Chuck,

I have now almost completely changed over to diamond wheels on my surface grinder, so normal wheels for normal materials, diamond for carbide and other hard stuff.

The problem you have won't be the density or size of the diamond, that is just like selecting your grit size on normal wheels. The smaller the number, the bigger the diamond grit.

Your main problem will be dressing it to be perfectly true.

The correct way is to use what is called a brake dresser, a very expensive bit of kit normally. A new one like mine could be well over 1,000 bucks.

I searched on ebay to get one before I started to build up my diamond wheel collection. After waiting for nearly six months, one came up at a reasonable price, the chap didn't know what he had, and I got it for about 50 of your bucks, and it came with a brand new spare wheel.

The way it works is that it is brought into contact with the wheel face, and the diamond wheel starts it turning. As it turns, a centrifugal brake comes into play and delays the bonded stone, and so the diamond wheel wears itself away and dresses true on the holding back normal bonded wheel.
Supposedly there are other ways to dress diamond wheels, but it seems the most efficient, accurate and best method is a brake dresser. The other ways are a little hit or miss.
One tip I have picked up, once the diamond wheel is correctly trued and dressed, you don't take it off the machine until you really have to. Otherwise you will need to true and dress all over again, and as you know, there isn't much meat on them in the first place, so continually dressing will soon render them worn away.

I hoped this has helped a little.

Blogs

 

[shred]

A while back on one of the ME mailing lists, the eBay seller "bsell0168" in HK was recomended. I ordered a few wheels and they seem good, though I've not used them much. It now looks like they aren't on eBay anymore and their web site appears disconnected. Anybody know where they went?

 

[Blogwitch]

Sorry Chuck, I forgot your original question.

I have bought off these suppliers, and can recommend them for quality.

http://richontools.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/11V9-cup-grin..._Metalworking_Supplies_ET?hash=item56393838de


http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Abtec-Stores__W0QQ_armrsZ1


The one for Gloster tooling shows the actual wheel I bought, which is the angled edge one. I think they do smaller.

With the exchange rate in your favour, and usually cheap postage from the UK, they might be worth considering.


Blogs

 

[don-tucker]

I bet you guys won't agree with this,we used a cup diamond wheel on the J & s cutter grinder when I was working,and used to true it up with a clock gauge on the plain bit,worked ok as the main cutting was done on the front edge of the wheel .
Don

 

[cfellows]

I bet you guys won't agree with this,we used a cup diamond wheel on the J & s cutter grinder when I was working,and used to true it up with a clock gauge on the plain bit,worked ok as the main cutting was done on the front edge of the wheel .
Don

Did a google search on clock gauge and didn't come up with anything that looks like it might be used to true a grinding wheel. So, what exactly, is a clock gauge?

Chuck

 

[don-tucker]

It's a Dial test indicator,I thought that was the common name for them,in our factory anyway,sorry.
Don