Grinding wheel dressing

[Sod saw]

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This subject is put here because It is about tools used for framing.  If I am wrong, perhaps someone will kindly move it.  thanks


My chisels seem to get dull on a regular basis.  When I grind them on the "normal" high speed wheel the edge will burn if not noticed in time.

I have a slow speed wheel as a separate machine but the stone has always been slightly out of round and the chisel will bounce as the wheel goes around.

I understand that there is a wheel dressing tool that can tru up that out of round wheel but I don't know how to shop for a good tool.

Some prices are in the hundreds of dollars and some prices are less that ten dollars.

My question:   If money were no object, , , which kind of stone wheel dressing tool would you buy.   Which would be your second choice, if given a budget?

Thanks in advance

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[doc henderson]

I am not an expert.  you remind me that one of my wheels has a grove in the center.  I have a dressing tool with a bunch of metal spinning wheels on a handle.  It came with one of my grinders and works fine.  I would guess it is the design of the cheaper ones.

[rusticretreater]

There are lots of dressing tools available and some are way way fancy.  Any midrange priced tool will suffice for an Aluminum Oxide wheel.  Another thing to do is to fine tune your grinder.  Most sell the grinder with some cheap mounting washers that don't run true.  If your wheel is wobbling, you will never get an even grind.  So switch washers around, buy new ones(of course there are special ones available) and get rid of the wobble.

What you really want to get is a CBN wheel.  Cubic Boron Nitride.  Lathe owners use these to sharpen their turning chisels but you can sharpen anything with them.  I have two, 200 and 600 grit.

CBN is hard as diamonds.  The wheels are perfectly flat across their surface. Some have side surfaces. They never wear out, wobble or lose their shape and they make your tools really sharp without burning them.  Expect to spend $150 minimum.  You can get any grit you want. All of the woodworking tool sellers carry them.

https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/cbn-wheels

[beenthere]

If the wheel is out of round, then getting it mounted in a large lathe would be needed to true it up and back to round again. Unless I misinterpret what you mean by "out of round". 

Or affix the wheel dresser so it can only contact the stone wheel when the lobe comes back around, just taking off the high points. 

[Sod saw]

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Beenthere,  Your idea of mounting some sort of hard surfaced tool near the out of round grinding stone is exactly what I had envisioned and gradually bringing it closer to the stone as the stone surface wears away to produce a round result.

I don't know what tool will accomplish this or how to shop to assess the usefulness of any dressing tool that I find.    What's a good design and what is junk?


rusticretreater,   Thanks for the suggestion about the washers  -  sounds like a great start.  

I also would like to check out the CBN suggestion.  Question:  Are each of your CBN wheels mounted on their own motor that would plug in separately or are they wheels that you mounted on a machine that you already had and replaced the old wheels with one of this new CBN wheels?   What rpm do they operate best at?

Doc,  I too have an assortment of wheels, that were inherited,  that are worn at all goofy angles and they need to be replaced.   

Thanks to you all.


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[rusticretreater]

I mounted them on a brand new variable speed Rikon 1 hp grinder.  Slide right on and up against the inner mount so they are straight.  The are made to work with any speed so the low speed 1750 rpm grinder will work just fine.

If you plan on using some kind of jig to hold your tool while grinding(like a wolverine setup) make sure the base of the grinder has enough clearance to allow the jig to fit under the wheel for mounting.  I have a delta grinder where the base is too wide and so I had to buy another one to put my lathe sharpening setup on.

Framing tools are much wider and heavier so you probably need something bigger, maybe roll your own setup.

[scsmith42]

I use a Tormek T7 for my fine chisels; it's a slow speed water saturated wheel that includes a diamond dresser.  Works fantastic (and in answer to your question "if money were no object" this would be my preferred solution.

For the other grinders in the welding and machine shops, if the wheel is in really bad shape I'll:

1 - use a tool similar to what Doc posted to rough true it up, followed by a diamond dresser.
2 - use a round grindstone mounted in an air die grinder to true up the wheel while spinning, followed by a diamond dresser.

This is the type of diamond wheel dresser that I use for a finish surface on the non-precision grinding wheels.

https://www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-71003-Diamond-Grinding-Dresser/dp/B00B10LM6O/ref=sr_1_3?crid=14JHBFOTC7LS0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VXUuB3PEiRfeplSPjbRTnsf08tPhTqWVM2Tfz6A0QME-T_AsMAytJRI2px7cuCtlWwOSMIsDqNJjcZlt2LgkMQ3uLVw8ZhKaSksJQvVMst0LBVJiaJ6QY9uEifmCAeWFV0TPhbjR2nTT1nOdtfJoOmLoU5xJk5n8t7fL-55UhJP3LoNnZk2j6uAb-bquWyqhO5E8qc7cpS1Q0OZCp1A3KqPLdaXV9u6T8_MvnaxCbl8.D2P0FPVCwNU_EEi7qJYDelp5qQnPaDeCoStJ_s_xVBw&dib_tag=se&keywords=grinding%2Bwheel%2Bdresser%2Bdiamond&qid=1720994956&sprefix=grinding%2Bwheel%2Bdres%2Caps%2C291&sr=8-3&th=1


This is the type of grindstone that I use in the die grinder to true up really bad wheels.

https://www.amazon.com/Grinding-Aluminum-Polishing%EF%BC%8CDeburring-Metals%EF%BC%884pcs-cylinder/dp/B08PFCNLDF/ref=sr_1_20?crid=QD2B9ROSSDG2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Byim_rnWKo4DuhI4dnCCXjrWVYtzMtRmhHHsnPQ9d4fmodRftA82LlHH_2jbdq7nK_LEZwGP13a66KXMadaaagx82YeS5VozEZePWyksyUtUWj6g7eHKajLtUNcKRhkhBGNZuXz0c2Vcz0PwqQ7914m0sA8TDSoTKmSS4ANrIGpoz-bbapA41ZATWOnENFn9SSS_xs2vAdv5cC02VchqXHBlOcKHi2IGnNM1OIWwrnk.jUfCrZ6Ay4GcvjsIRcbq-Hi0AE6JvRB1XCRwv_UGqu0&dib_tag=se&keywords=1%2F4%22%2Bmount%2Bgrinding%2Bstone&qid=1720995022&sprefix=1%2F4%2Bmount%2Bgrinding%2Bston%2Caps%2C479&sr=8-20&th=1

What I'll do is brace my hand holding the die grinder against the bench grinder body, turn it on, turn the die grinder on, and then slowly bring the rotating die grinder stone in contact with the rotating bench grinder stone, until the wheel is flattened and trued up.

I'll then use the diamond dressing stone - holding it tightly against the tool rest - to true up the stone to a finer finish.  The key is to not let the dresser follow the grindstone's contours, but to rigidly hold the tool so that the grindstone ends up perfectly trued up.

I've been known to use a slow speed belt/disc sander to also sharpen chisels.

The Tormek though provides the most perfectly trued up surface for the slicks, etc.

[Sod saw]

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Thanks to each of you.  I will look into all of your suggestions and opinions.  You have suggested solutions that I had not heard of before.


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