how do you shape a grinder wheel?

Ha!!! Just did this! I took a drill press vise, the kind that tilts and locks at an angle. I removed the moving jaw insert and made a new one from scrap that had a hole in it that I put a round shank diamond point and locked it with a set screw. I set the vise on the magnetic chuck and locked everything down with the vise at a 45 deg. Then by opening and closing the vise, it dressed the wheel at 45 deg. Total time: 20 minutes. I did both sides of the wheel as I needed a 90 deg.

They make a diamond dresser holder where a crank rotates the slide for the diamond holder from +45 to -45 degrees. Adjut to the angle you need and slide the diamod back/forth accross the wheel. Way nice for all sorts of angles on the surface grinder. I picked mine up for dirt at an auction. I'm sure they are on Ebay.

Karl

The simple answer is that there is a dressing tool for grinding wheels. One form is a heavy handle with 1.5" hard steel spoked wheels separated by disks on the end. You brace the handle on the guide for the wheel and use the spinning wheel to turn the dressing disks, to shape the wheel. I was looking at one yesterday in the hardware store. They also, as mentioned, come with diamond cutting action. Go to

A "star" dressing wheel. I would be leery of using it to dress at a 45 degree angle since 1/2 of the applied force would be against the _side_ of the wheel. I know that not much force is needed, but still ...

Bob