On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:22:07 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Harold and Susan Vordos" quickly quoth:
Oh, darn. I could use a good diamond wheel and an extra grand or two. My shipment of heavy metal came in last week. I picked up my brand new Toyota Tundra (gold instead of white, long story) and am having fun with it already. I may go out in the snow later to see how it drives with Michelins in the white crap.
It has started and stopped 3 times since I wrote that. It's about 33F out there so most of it melts pretty quickly. I sent my family over the Siskiyou Summit this morning at 9. They usually keep I-5 pretty clear.
Pretty wild! We still have the noisy power we always do. Within the first year of moving up here I ended up putting a UPS on my computer to keep it from rebooting 3-5 times a day, and last year I added one to my entertainment setup.
I think we've had 2 since I've been here (6 years in Feb.)
Ugh!
Best of luck to you all.
-- Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. --e e cummings
If you have a good selection of (expensive) diamond wheels. Green wheels are cheap.
Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner
I'ts all in your perspective. You need but one diamond wheel to address almost all your sharpening needs for lathe tools----the only limitation being grinding chip breakers, and even then you're only limited, not prevented.
The cost of three green wheels will buy you a diamond wheel, which, in turn, will do the work of 20 green wheels. I don't see green wheels as being cheap, and their performance sucks big time. Then you have to consider the hazard of breathing the silicon.
I've been forced to use a silicon wheel when it really mattered----but the shop in question was run by a bunch of dolts that had no clue and wouldn't even entertain the idea of a diamond wheel. They wasted more money in carbide annually than the value of a decent diamond wheel. As I said, silicon carbide wheels are a false economy. The only thing to recommend them is that they will shape carbide, at least after a fashion. I hesitate to use the term "sharpen", for obvious reasons.
I'm going to take my 4 wheels in to Australian Abrasives to ask exactly what they are and to see if they have a diamond wheel that would suit my application and my purse.
I'm assuming that diamond wheels are basically flat steel plates with diamonds bonded to the side face of the wheel opposite the motor. I will try to rig up a table and jig to hold tools at the correct angle to this flat surface.
What would be an ideal speed for a diamond wheel, and how much water is required if indeed it is? Would a drip a second, or similar be adequate, or is it best to flood the area?
I've got a couple of extremely cheap 4" diamond cut-off wheels for a
4" angle grinder. One is labelled for wet cutting, and the other with radial cutouts, for dry cutting of glass and ceramics and so on. I wonder if these might be used for some rough tool shaping if the angle grinder were clamped securely to a bench. The diamonds appear to be rather coarse, and far apart, and the wheels are designed for max rpm of 14500.
I wonder if any Australians here know where is a good place to get a diamond wheel.
They are typically made of aluminum, not steel. The wheel I use, which is commonly found on diamond grinders, is 6" in diameter, and 3/4" thick, It has a counterbore 5/16" deep, 4-1/2" diameter. There is a 1-1/4" bore, and a bolt circle, countersunk, for mounting the wheel. The working face is
3/4" wide, and can be obtained in either 1/16" or 1/8" thickness of diamond.
It's best to build a table that extends part the face of the wheel on the outside, so the tool is supported when grinding the sides. Both sides of the wheel (left and right) will be used, depending on the handing of the tool in question, so it's important that the motor be able to be reversed. The table should be adjustable between 0 degrees and up to 10 degrees of angle. It need not have calibrations, just be adjustable easily. You'll find you often change the angle on the table as you grind different features of a given tool. Table centerline should be slightly below the centerline of the wheel, so the wheel contacts the tool at the centerline. I'd suggest 3/8", unless you use large tools. if you intend to grind on up to
3/4" tools, then I'd shoot for 1/2" below center with the table. That way you won't be too low when grinding on small tools.
Ideal speed would be maximum allowable speed of the wheel, but you'll find that a 3,450 or 3,600 RPM motor will provide excellent service. A slower motor will function, but expect slower results. I suggest sticking with the 3,000+ speed.
Regards coolant, the grinder is best built with a pan, which would have a drain that returns the coolant for reuse. A chemical additive will keep it from rusting. I use a small circulating pump, and feed the wheel at its center, using some 3/16" copper tubing. I have a valve in the circuit to control flow. I keep a steady stream, although it's a small one. Drops tend to allow heating and cooling instead of a constant cooling. I'd personally advise against a drip system, although I'd be first to agree they work. They're just not quite adequate if you're roughing a tool, which is often required because of edge chipping. You're also subject to thermal shock if the interval between drips gets spread out to far.
If they're the HF variety of wheel, I'm familiar with them, having purchased a set for use in the house building project that seems to consume all my time. The problem you'll face with them, unless you have the one that has no serrations, is the bumpy grind. Carbide doesn't take kindly to interrupted cuts, so you could expect some chipping if you use them for that purpose. They're not great for use on edge because there's a steel band in the center of the wheel that won't cut. In abrasive materials (concrete, for instance), the band is ground back in the course of use. Carbide would likely act as a bearing, so the blade wouldn't cut well once that center section was in contact with the tool. In general, I'd say they're not well suited, but you might explore their use for grinding a chip breaker.
As an aside, I can send you a couple pics of my home made grinder. They'd be small, under 100 kb in size. I'm on a dialup. Let me know if you'd like to have them.
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