There's alot to learn about grinding metals, and I have only a few bench grinders, all long ago dedicated to their limited tasks. Can anyone help me with a long-standing dream?
I would like a bench grinder with easily changed wheels, wheels that centered easily and 'perfectly', as would a lathe faceplate or live center. Then I could buy different wheels and try them when the grey wheel doesn't work, for example on Stellite or aluminum. Or might a softer wheel not burn this HSS?
When I have change wheels on the normal 1/2 " shaft grinder, the centering is so poor that clouds of grit have to be dressed off with a diamond stick. No fun. I even have a grinder with an untrue shaft; the wheel has to be 'untrued' to run true.
I have seen 1-1/4 i.d. wheels set up with a taper-centered steel hub, not real different from a volkswagen rear brake drum. It looked like these grinding wheels went onto surface grinders, where the operator would have a similar desire as my own.
So I thought of getting a head assembly from a dead surface grinder, but all such grinders at the machinery place were 3 phase. A look in MSC showed the same - all 3 phase.
I even have what appears to be a balancing shaft, as mentioned in MSC, for a surface grinder. Its 4-1/2" long. Its tapered portion measure/calculates to 2.994" of diameter per 12" of length. Probably
3" per foot, but not the 3-1/2" per foot mentioned in Machinerys for "Steep Machine Tapers". Is this taper of 3" per foot a standard? Its o.d. at the large end of the tapered portion is just about exactly 1.000".I would even spring for a new and quality machine with angle-generating tables and extended housings, perhaps a reversing switch, if this repeatable mounting feature was available. Even a super nasty wire wheel could be in the bag of tricks, where that wheel would never be considered for everyday use. I guess my dream machine would need a spindle stop with extracting nut or drift-pin equivalent to get the taper unstuck.
How long would people put up with an automobile that required mounting the rubber tires directly to a slot on the outside of the hubs? Any settings made to the tires, like balance or being aired up, would have to be destroyed for every tire change. No, we have separate metal devices with a tapered nut centering system to easily make changes, like to the spare, or to the winter tires. Have I missed something in the world of grinders?
There is a world of dazzling grinding wheel types waiting for sampling, but this wheel-changing issue has me stuck.
BTW, is this the address of the FAQ's?
Tom Thoreau