Grinding wheels for surface grinder

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

About two years ago in a rush of enthusiasm I bought a lot of grinding wheels with different grits and hardness. I was planning to build a surface grinder. I still do. For some reason that now I don’t understand I considered that the best way to start is to buy a big stack of wheels. And of course I bought the wrong ones. Later I saw that surface grinders are using flat wheels. Mine are V shaped on the edge. I think they are meant for grounding some tools?

What would happen if such a wheel will be used? The edge of the wheel will wear too quickly? So the grinded surface will be uneven? How about if I dress the wheel to remove the V part. Then I will get a flat wheel surface of around 6mm in width. I suppose this would be fine for small parts at least?

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

I think the parts would need to be small to get much use from a 6mm width, much better to buy a 12 to 25mm wheel for your general grinding, the other wheels could come in handy for tap sharpening or similar jobs. Nice selection of quality wheels though!

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

Grinding wheels can be profiled to any desired shape. In fact there are special attachments such as the Diaform and Optidress to achieve this, although its probably done by CNC these days. I have a Diaform on my J&S 540 just for show because I got it for a ridiculous price but really have no use for it and it’s a very specialised piece of tool-room kit. There’s an example in the Diaform manual of a wheel being profiled to grind the die for stamping out the centre of a traditional Gillette type razor blade. I would presume that wheels with enough ‘meat’ left on them could be re-profiled or the profile removed for simple surface grinding. Dunno, never done it.

BTW, I have a similar collection of surplus grinding wheels that I rescued from a skip when my erstwhile employer’s tool-room closed but which will never be used and really just take up shelf space.

[Master of noneParticipant @masterofnone]

Wider wheels are an advantage in terms of wheel wear.  The theory goes that as you move across the workpiece the leading part of the wheel does most of the cutting and so wears the most.  The trailing edge cuts very little so it maintains its diameter.

RT

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

I guess the best way to find out is to give it a try. Maybe the hard ones will keep a constant diameter at least for small parts. The only inconvenient is the very large hole they have comparing to the most common wheels. I’ll have to do a separate arbor for them.

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

“Wider wheels are an advantage in terms of wheel wear.  The theory goes that as you move across the workpiece the leading part of the wheel does most of the cutting and so wears the most.  The trailing edge cuts very little so it maintains its diameter.”

Yes, I have heard that story too and I have insufficient knowledge of these matters to contradict it. However, the corollary must surely be that as the leading edge wears it cuts proportionately less, so therefore the part of the wheel trailing it has to cut proportionately more and so wheel wear evens itself out. This must only be true, of course, if the wheel has been accurately dressed and its perimeter is truly concentric.

[Dave SParticipant @daves59043]

That a wheel wears on its leading edge is true. You can see the cutting is only occurring in a narrow band on this 1/2” wheel. IIRC this is about 4 thou DoC, J&S540, probably a 46K wheel.

 

The narrow wheels will work, but you will have to dress them more frequently. I typically dress before starting and then only “cut” in one direction so the wheel wear is consistent. I’ll often manage to do whatever it is I’m grinding flat in a single dress, but I may redress for a finish pass.

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