8 inch grinding wheels

[oldc6]

Finally found an eight inch slow speed grinder. Replaced the old six inch that i never did like.

Question is it came with a sixty grit wheel. What do we know about the
pink, white and blue wheels that go up to 120 grit.?? Some are yellow also.

On the woodcraft web pages they have a comment section and it seems like
a lot of people dont like these wheels.

I would used this mainly for sharpening the lathe tools.....

Have the shopsmith system now but this grinder would eliminate having to set that up every time...

Anybody use these wheels, and how do you like them??????Thanks

[beeg]

Whats the color of the sixty grit wheel? If it's the old type gray wheel, replace it with the newer friable wheel.

[bobgroh]

It turns out that the question of grinding wheels, balancing (which is a frequent complaint on Woodcraft 8" slow speed grinder) and wheel dressing is a pretty darned big topic. Here is where I stand right now (subject to change at any moment!).

First off, I have a Woodcraft 8" grinder with the stock 8" white wheels. I am using this with a Oneway Wolverine sharpening jig - primarily for my lathe chisels. Up to now, it has done pretty well - with just a bit of vibration primarily during startup and stopping. But just last week, I got a bit more vibration and a ferocious 'bouncing' on the lathe chisels. That had to end! And so I launched into an exhaustive couple of hours of Googling and web site wandering. Take a look at:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread. ... ed-grinder

First as an aside the color of the wheels denotes the friability (bet I mangled that word) of the wheel - check out the Norton web site for more on this subject. Short hand - gray is bad. Others better. White is good.

Back to the Woodcraft grinder - the stock wheels apparently have poor bushings (the grinder has 5/8" shaft OD and the wheels have a 7/8" ID - the bushings (which are plastic sort of) adapt the wheel to the grinder). Agreement on the web - replace them with drill bushings which are highly precise (and expensive! Ouch). About $8 per bushing. I've got some on order for myself and my son.

The next thing is get a 'real' diamond dressing tool such as the Oneway wheel dresser or the Geier system. Not (as I have) one of those relatively inexpensive 'T' bar diamond dressers. Drat. More money. Both are in $70 to $80 range. Ouch.

Oneway also has a balancing system which is also very highly thought of. But it is limited to wheels with 1" IDs which means the Woodcraft wheels won't fit. But my next set (in 40 years!) will be Norton's with 1" IDs. So maybe then. Oh, and it is expensive. But very well done.

As a note, Norton wheels are also reputed to have p***poor bushings so count on needing to replace those.

I recommend you do a little research on the web. You don't have to do these things and your setup may be fine. But stuff does happen. Good luck. For me, I temporarily improved things by dismounting and then remounting the wheels. I'm going to buy the Oneway wheel dresser next week and I have bushings on order. Hey, life is too short!

[oldc6]

Yesterday i was in mpls. so, went to the rockler store. They have the norton white wheels. Bought a 100 grit eight inch wheel..... Installed it on the grinder and of course it wobbles. Those plastic bushings are a really sloppy fit.

I came in the house to look at the forum as had been gone all day.

Viola, Bobgroh has a nice explanation on this entry.. Will be ordering those bushings, and hopefully that will cure the wobble.

Norton should be a good brand to buy. I cant see them putting bushings of such quality with their product.

Thanks again Bobgroh for the explanation of this problem..........