New grinding wheel problem

[Badabing]

Need some help

I have an 8'' variable speed bench grinder. I'm using it mostly to sharpen lathe tools. It came with a 60 grit gray wheel and a wire wheel. I thought I'd replace the wire wheel with a white aluminum oxide wheel so today I got a Camel brand 8'' white AO wheel. Mounted it and there is a lot of vibration. Looks like the wheel is not perfectly round. I had to readjust it twice to get it to turn without wobble too.

My first question is how good are the plastic arbor spacers? This wheel has a few concentric plastic spacers so that the arbor is adjustable from 1/2'' to 1 1/4''. Could these be the problem?

Second question: how do you dress a wheel? Is it different for the white AO versus the gray one? The grinder came with a dressing tool (star wheels). Should I use that or do I need a diamond dresser?

OK, that was more than two questions, forgive me

Anybody have experience with grinding wheels and can offer some advise?

[DaveO]

All a dressing or truing tool does is remove part of the wheel to either expose new grit or correct an out-of-round/flat situation. I would think that the star wheel dresser would do as well as the diamond dresser for that job. If the situation is really bad and the vibration is extreme, you might return the wheel (things are made on a Monday or Friday ) and get a new one, or you could get a Oneway Wolverine wheel dresser and get it dead on - http://www.oneway.ca/sharpening/dressing_jig.htm

I doubt that the arbor spacers are bad, modern technology ought to be able to produce those consistently. But seeing as the wheels are "baked" to create their consistency, I could see how something could be un-precise.
I would return the wheel and try another.
Dave

[Canuck]

I recently had the same type of an issue with an 8" Norton 120 grit wheel I had ordered from Hartville Tool. It wobbled like crazy!!!

I packaged it up and returned it. The new wheel (replacement) is much better but still needed a tad of dressing. Running pretty well now.

Good luck!

[meika123]

Originally Posted by Badabing

Need some help

I have an 8'' variable speed bench grinder. I'm using it mostly to sharpen lathe tools. It came with a 60 grit gray wheel and a wire wheel. I thought I'd replace the wire wheel with a white aluminum oxide wheel so today I got a Camel brand 8'' white AO wheel. Mounted it and there is a lot of vibration. Looks like the wheel is not perfectly round. I had to readjust it twice to get it to turn without wobble too.

My first question is how good are the plastic arbor spacers? This wheel has a few concentric plastic spacers so that the arbor is adjustable from 1/2'' to 1 1/4''. Could these be the problem?

Second question: how do you dress a wheel? Is it different for the white AO versus the gray one? The grinder came with a dressing tool (star wheels). Should I use that or do I need a diamond dresser?

OK, that was more than two questions, forgive me

Anybody have experience with grinding wheels and can offer some advise?

To attempt to answer your question. I have both the bench grinder and a "Square Wheel" belt grinder. I use the bench grinder for just casual rough work. But if I want to remove a lot of material in a short time, nothing beats a 36-60 grit belt. I used to be a knife maker, and used the belt for grinding blades. As far as sharpening chisels, etc, nothing beats the belt.
As for the dresser, I use the metal handled star wheel dresser. I also have the solid carbide dressing stick, but the wheels work much better.
Mind you, you can still use the grinding wheel perfectly well, but I prefer the belt.

[Wildwood]

Would make sure when installing a new wheel on a grinder you don't over tighten the nut. Hand tight works find. So don't grab a wrench and try for crazy tight. I hold onto the other wheel when tightening the nut by hand.Once I install a new wheel will spin by hand to see if its got any noticeable wobble, before turning. If looks okay will turn on grinder for a few minutes and let the wheel get happy. If wheel is wobbling after coming up to speed and a light pass with the dresser won't fix it will return the wheel for a new one. A star dresser will work but you need a very light touch, same is true for a diamond dresser. I prefer the diamond dresser only because I do less damage with it. Have both the wolverine and single point diamond dresser. I've had good luck with Norton wheels from sharpeningsupplies.com. I also change out both wheels at the same time. Good luck.