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Truing Up Grinding wheels

L

LANKFORD

Joined
Mar 21, 2006
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Location
Vienna, Virginia
I'm full of questions today. I have aluminum oxide white wheels on my grinder. I have a diamond bar I got from Woodcraft. It trues up the wheel but leaves little grooves in the wheel due I assume to the diamond particles being rather course. To get rid of the grooves I took a diamond hone to the wheel. The hone has very fine particles but it takes quite a while to get all the grooves out. Is there a better way? Or, do I even need to worry about the grooves?
 
? Do the little grooves impact your sharpening? If they are that deep maybe your hone is too rough. I use the same thing and don't get grooves.
 
Is the diamond dresser the kind that has a handle like the OLD Gillette razors?
If so, are you constantly moving the diamond dresser and doing it with a light enough touch?

And, if I remember correctly what I've heard, you should also be wearing a dust mask when truing up or cleaning a wheel, That fine dust is basically fine ground glass and way more dangerous than wood dust. Am I correct?

Jack Savona
 
To Mainbowlman. Yes, its like a gillete razor shape. I think maybe thats my trouble. Did not move it back and forth and maybe my touch was a little heavy. Will try that. Thanks
 
Lankford,
The best tool for truing up grinding wheels IMOHO is Oneway's Wheel dresser. It is $ 59.99 that is expensive but it is worth every penny. Now when I touch up my tools they no longer bounce like they use too. You will go through diamond bars and other tools trying to get the result from oneway's set up. One time purchase! Hope this helps, Vince
 
I see that Jack Savona already stated the almost exact words that I was thinking -- in fact I also think of an old Gillette safety razor when I see it. I will concede that the Oneway dresser is probably the closest thing to perfect if you use it correctly, however, I also think that anything beyond what can be done using the Woodcraft "Gillette" dresser freehand has exceeded the point of dimishing returns for what is really needed. Also, the job could be done much cheaper than using the Oneway by putting the Woodcraft dresser in a fixture that moved it across the stone in a straight line.

Bill
 
It is very simple -- it is a rest that has a miter slot acoss it similar to what Veritas offers only home made with a piece of miter track. Then a block of wood with a hole for the handle and a set screw. I don't use it any more because I sold that grinder (6" and upgraded to 8") and I found that eyeball alignment is very good if done carefully with the dressing tool held flat on the rest.Bill
 
I use one of the Single Point Wheel Dressers which is the traditional Tool for the Job but control of distance and speed of trverse can be a problem resulting in a Wheel that is not Square or with Grooves.

I made a Jig to hold the Dresser and now find I can quickly and efficiently True Up the Wheel each and every time.

Details on my Web Site under "Bench Grinder Mosifications and Aids"

http://www.laymar-crafts.co.uk

Richard
 
One of the things about any tool, is how quick and easy can I use it when I need to. If it is a hassle, I will put it off until I really need to do it.

I have an inexpensive "Gillette", a Oneway, and a Don Geiger
The Gillette, is quick and inexpensive so it can be used at any time but because it follows the wheel and will clean the wheel, but won't take out any surface derivations like dips. The main reason is you hand hold it and your hand bounces with the wheel.
The Oneway works real well, but requires more setup and I tend to use it when planned, and not impromptu. It covers all the issues and works real well. It takes out any surface imperfections and rounds the wheel.
The Geiger takes it one step further. It has a diamond and rides on the front of the platform rest like the Oneway has. It is more expensive, but definitely more convenient to use than the Oneway.
 
Jack Savona said:
Is the diamond dresser the kind that has a handle like the OLD Gillette razors?
If so, are you constantly moving the diamond dresser and doing it with a light enough touch?

And, if I remember correctly what I've heard, you should also be wearing a dust mask when truing up or cleaning a wheel, That fine dust is basically fine ground glass and way more dangerous than wood dust. Am I correct?

Jack Savona
Click to expand...

Being a potter I always have to be aware of silica dust hazards and you are correct, Jack, that silica dust is extremely hazardous. Therefore, appropriate safety precautions should be taken when dressing the wheel and cleaning up the dust around the wheels from tool sharpening. I even wear a mask (and eye protection) when sharpening my tools as well.

I use Oneway's wheel dressing jig and it works like a charm. It does not wear your wheel down nearly as fast as the "Gillette Razor", you are able to to control exactly how much surface to remove and you can get a 90 degree straight line with respect to the wheel side. The trick is to remove very little at a time and slowly advance the diamond cutter to the wheel after the current position stops cutting. It is also best to make a fast pass with the cutting head, 1 second or less (per conversions with Oneway). So, it takes several times back and forth until it needs to be advanced. One may have to advance the cutting head several times before a straight cut is attained. Moving the diamond cutting head much slower than that tends to groove the wheel as well. I use Oneway's wheels as well and you really need this jig to properly dress those much harder wheels. Hope this helps....
 
Can't open the Don Geiger web page, don't know how it compares.
I had the Oneway diamond dresser and saw this one during the Bill Grumbine demo. I bought one from Bill. IMO, it is a better mouse trap. It is compact, easier to setup with the great result. The diamond trues the surface at a skew angle. It uses the back of the flat platform as reference. I prefer this over the Oneway.
 

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If you use something like Gordon suggests, make sure the edge of the platform is actually parallel to the face of the wheel. Gordon, apparently yours is, but I had a platform that was not welded on square to the other components. Oneway told me that was not a necessary requirement for the platform, but they did send me a replacement.
 
John Sheets said:
If you use something like Gordon suggests, make sure the edge of the platform is actually parallel to the face of the wheel. Gordon, apparently yours is, but I had a platform that was not welded on square to the other components. Oneway told me that was not a necessary requirement for the platform, but they did send me a replacement.
Click to expand...

I think you want the platform set perpendicular to the flat side of the wheel in most cases. I like my Veritas for grinding chisels. You can then clamp a limiter on your tool and true the wheel. Sort of like working on the lathe!

Of course, I have to ask why someone wants a more aggressive (fresh) surface when the objective is to remove the minimum amount of metal required to get back to sharp work. Also why you need a flat stone to grind a curved object like a gouge. Can't remember last time I surfaced my stone on the HSS side.
 
Gordon Seto said:
Can't open the Don Geiger web page, don't know how it compares.
I had the Oneway diamond dresser and saw this one during the Bill Grumbine demo. I bought one from Bill. IMO, it is a better mouse trap. It is compact, easier to setup with the great result. The diamond trues the surface at a skew angle. It uses the back of the flat platform as reference. I prefer this over the Oneway.
Click to expand...

That is a Geiger.
 
MichaelMouse said:
I think you want the platform set perpendicular to the flat side of the wheel in most cases. I like my Veritas for grinding chisels. You can then clamp a limiter on your tool and true the wheel. Sort of like working on the lathe!

Of course, I have to ask why someone wants a more aggressive (fresh) surface when the objective is to remove the minimum amount of metal required to get back to sharp work. Also why you need a flat stone to grind a curved object like a gouge. Can't remember last time I surfaced my stone on the HSS side.
Click to expand...

One reason for a 'fresh surface' produced with a diamond tool is sharpening can then be done with less heat generation.

Malcolm Smith.
 
I generally clean the stone with the Razor looking diamond hone from Woodcraft. I do this by setting it on the tool rest and then gently moving the hone from side to side.
I built a homemade version of the Geiger only I used the flat Razor hone to true the wheels. It was pretty poorly built at the time and didn't work as well as I would have liked. The fine adjustment just didn't work fine enough. Now that I have better skills I may try to build it again.
The single point dressers like the Oneway and Geiger have really nice fine tuning adjustments so you remove the least amount of material. I rarely use them once the new wheels are trued. Sometimes with a really worn wheel you can get is slightly out of true with the hand held diamond hone.
If the wheel gets out of square with the tool rest it's not really that critical. One wing of your tool might be slightly longer than the other but that doesn't matter at all. Check out Graham Priddle's gouges which have one wing really long and the other short. His are done on purpose and it certainly doesn't hurt his turning.
 
Malcolm Smith said:
One reason for a 'fresh surface' produced with a diamond tool is sharpening can then be done with less heat generation.

Malcolm Smith.
Click to expand...

Which is not particularly dangerous to the alloys we use, of course. Nonetheless, the greater coefficient of friction from broken grit (finer grind) is easily compensated by lightening the pressure.

Not that I've blued a carbon steel tool in years since I acquired some patience.
 
Yet another vote for John Lucas' "T" dresser method. Very light pressure against the wheel and heavier pressure against the rest, with side to side motion seems to do all that is required.
 
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