Diamond dresser question

My understanding from another sales book - dxp - it is a friction dresser. The wheel doesn't turn at the same speed and therefore doesn't keep up with one configuration.

I don't know - maybe Wayne knows - how fast do they wear out.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

My point is the force back from the 1" of surface being ground at the same time. Might not be all that bad the way Harold talks. Thanks - maybe next time.

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

I believe they make something similar called a brake controlled dresser for surface grinders. These don't have brakes on them but instead angle the grinding wheel for a scuffing action. Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

I believe the wheel is simply a silicon carbide grinding wheel. It's much finer (probably 40-60 grit) and softer than a dressing stick (at least the ones I used where). We used some small aluminum oxide grinding wheels as replacements for a while when we couldn't get the right wheels. They worked fine but didn't last as long.

The only weak link on these in my experience is the bearing system. It amounts to a pair of points going into counter sinks in the wheel mandrel. There are grease or oil holes in the center of the screws on each side. You have to maintain these bearing surfaces carefully or the wheel will chatter (if to loose) or not turn (if to tight). As you can imagine the gritty environment doesn't do these bearings much good. But with the adjustability of them they can last a long time. The one I used had to of been nearly as old as I was at the time.

Mine didn't last as long as that. Actually I think one of my helpers threw mine away a while back. But it was showing some signs of wear and had been dropped and broke at some point in time.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

More good stuff snipped---

Thanks, Wayne. I get the idea now. Sounds good-----just expensive.

Harold

You're welcome

Yep but worth it IMHO. Actually when you get down to it they're not that much more expensive than a star dresser of similar size.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

Harold,

I've seen you extolling the virtues of the silicon carbide dressing sticks, so I bought a couple sticks described (in the current MSC catalog on page 797) as "Abrasive Dresser Sticks, Silicon Carbide, For truing and dressing grinding wheels." I've tried to use one on both coarse and fine aluminum oxide grinding wheels, and they 1) virtually don't cut anything and thus take forever to square up the wheel, and 2) leave the most amazingly glazed wheel surface that I've ever managed to produce. I actually use a single point diamond to *open up* the wheel after using one of these.

What gives?

-- Greg

I'm at a loss to explain it, Greg. Are you using the stick flat, the entire face? The whole idea is to use a sharp corner, which will remove the wheel at a fairly generous rate. Use the stick flat only to give the wheel a final "leveling", so to speak, and even then, don't use a flat face if you can avoid doing so. Use a corner, with a minimum of stick touching the wheel. .

If you use a flat surface and allow the wheel to scuff it endlessly, you'll polish the stick until it's not much different from a Norbide, the only difference being that the stick is sintered, and not as hard as a Norbide. In either case, the wheel is glazed instead of dressed, so you'd get what you're describing. It's all in the application. I should have suggested that you never allow the wheel to rub on the dressing stick, regardless of make. I've used them so long I forget others may not understand a proper application. Sorry!

I think I mentioned that dressing sticks work not only by cutting the abrasive grains, but by dislodging them, exposing unused grain. When you allow the stick to rub, it doesn't do that.

Hope that helps. How about a report after you've experimented a little?

Harold

I'll try and find them (haven't used 'em for quite awhile, don't remember how I applied them), experiment further and follow up. The shops I've worked in were all of the star dresser and diamond catagory, so maybe I just wasn't using them right.

-- Greg