CBN wheels questions

Re: CBN wheels questions

robo hippy

Jorge, I have a long article on my web site about CBN wheels:

http://www.robohippy.net/

I have had D Way wheels since they were the first ones out on the market, and Dave is pretty much local. He is also a great guy. I recently got a 600 grit CBN wheel from Ken Rizza at Woodturning Wonders. Ken's wheels are more aluminum hubbed rather than the heavier steel. I did find the 600 grit wheel left an excellent burr on my scrapers for shear scraping, better than 180.

The dust seems to be an unknown, but it does float like wood dust. One turner hung a magnet 10 feet away and it collected metal dust.

robo hippy

Re: CBN wheels questions

John C Lucas

Im really happy with the DWay 180 that i have. It cuts exgremely fast and cool. You can reshape a tool quickly and the finish leaves a fine edge for cutting

Re: CBN wheels questions

Brian B

I got a two wheel set from WoodturnersWonder.com. I could not be happier given the quality and especially the price!

Re: CBN wheels questions

Dick Hines

Can the cbn wheels be used on a high speed grinder?

Re: CBN wheels questions

Jorge Castañeda

Reed,

thanks for the in dept review, now I have a better idea and more reasons to justify the purchase.

Do you have a preference for the steel body or the aluminum body?

Re: CBN wheels questions

Jorge Castañeda

Thank you John!

Re: CBN wheels questions

Jorge Castañeda

Thanks Brian,

I had my eye on those for a while.

Re: CBN wheels questions

Jorge Castañeda

Dick,

I am no expert, but got the impression they are for "low" speed grinders 1750

rpm

Re: CBN wheels questions

Dick Hines

Well I guess I will not be using them anytime soon. I have been using the grinder my grandfather sued for years to grind planer and saw blades. I have been useing it since 1990.

If it ain't broke don't fix it

Re: CBN wheels questions

robo hippy

My only real preference for the CBN wheels is that I prefer the straight across ones, and really have no use for the radius edged ones. The radius edge is good for hollowing bits. John Lucas shows that on a sharpening clip he did a while back when he only had the standard wheels and rounded the edges a tiny bit. Dave also shows that. Since I don't do much hollowing, not necessary for me. As far as aluminum or steel, I have no preference. If your grinder is underpowered, like the old blue no name grinders that Woodcraft sold years ago, or the Rikon 1/2 hp grinder that Woodcraft now sells, the aluminum might be better because they don't weigh nearly as much. I have heard the question about 'will the electroplating last as long on the aluminum as it does on the steel?' and the only answer I can give is time will tell. I wouldn't think there is much difference. The high speed/slow speed question comes up a lot. These wheels come spin and bubble balanced, so they will run true on either grinder. Only difference is that you will use a much lighter touch on the high speed grinders. Dave has a Jet 10 inch grinder with 40 or 60 grit wheels that he uses for rough shaping. I really don't think I would use the side grind much.

robo hippy

Re: CBN wheels questions

Jorge Castañeda

Robo,

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

The grinder is a brand new 1 hp Rikon, so it should be happy with anything we give it.

Re: CBN wheels questions

Ralph Lindberg

Dave (D-way) says 3500 rpm is fine with his

Re: CBN wheels questions

robo hippy

The 1 hp Rikon has plenty of muscle for the CBN wheels. I took the rubber feet off mine to mount it on plywood for taking to demos. I had to grind 1/8 inch off of one of the feet to get it to sit flat. The wheel cover on the left side, after I ground off the crimped over part, was a perfect fit for my robo rest as a stop for proper spacing away from the wheel. On the other side, it hit the cover at about 1/2 inch away from the wheel. I reamed out the bolt holes about one whole bolt thickness so I could pivot it far enough down to get the cover out of the way. I also had to put the Wolverine bases up on blocks about 1/2 inch thick to get the platform to center height.

robo hippy

Re: CBN wheels questions

John K Jordan

I also prefer the wheels straight on the front with corners instead of radii, and I like the side grit too. With the radius on each side, you waste both width and depth down the side.

I also got a 10" 600 grit wheel for the Tormek. I really like it for spindle gouges, small Thompson steel scrapers, and my smaller skews as well as the small cabinet scrapers.

JKJ

Re: CBN wheels questions

Ron Borowicz

John, I have a Tormek and am considering the 600 grit CBN wheel. A couple of questions... 1. Did you get the radius edge or straight across wheel and why? 2. You say that you are only sharpening "smaller" tools on the CBN Tormek. Is this because you tried 1/2, 5/8 etc. gouges on the Tormek/CBN and were not satisfied or ?? The reason I ask is because I had planned on sharpening my "larger" gouges on the Tormek/600 CBN. Thanks. A good and timely discussion for me.

Re: CBN wheels questions

john Lucas

Dick I would ask the companies but I don't see why they can't be used on a 3500rpm grinder. They certainly aren't going to fly apart like a grinding wheel might.

Re: CBN wheels questions

John K Jordan

>John, I have a Tormek and am considering the 600 grit CBN wheel. A couple

>of questions... 1. Did you get the radius edge or straight across wheel and

>why? 2. You say that you are only sharpening "smaller" tools on the CBN

>Tormek. Is this because you tried 1/2, 5/8 etc. gouges on the Tormek/CBN

>and were not satisfied or ?? The reason I ask is because I had planned on

>sharpening my "larger" gouges on the Tormek/600 CBN. Thanks. A good and

>timely discussion for me.

Ron,

The 600 grit CBN works fine for the larger tools, but slower to reshape. For example, reshaping a big scraper into a negative rake scraper would take a while. (though much quicker than the Tormek water wheel!) Ideally, one coarse and one fine CBN would do everything.

I do sharpen some larger tools on the Tormek but I especially like it for the smaller tools because the 600 grit gives a smoother grind. I like a smoother grind when cutting smaller things, especially when turning spindles from hard, dense woods like ebony, dogwood, cocobolo and other rosewoods. I also use the leather stropping wheels on the Tormek to polish the edge a bit and to knock off any burr on the inside of the flute, but don't bother with a mirror finish. With a polished edge small things from good woods rarely need sanding with anything other than 600-800 grit, often no sanding at all.

For larger things like bowls and platters, I don't turn ebony but usually coarser wood like cherry and such! With these larger pieces and the larger gouges the coarser grind and scratches from the coarser wheels don't matter as much. Don't get me wrong, even the coarser CBN wheels make a pretty good grind!

The coarser wheels do cut much faster, especially when mounted on a bench grinder. (I use the 1/2 speed grinders) The Tormek jigs sharpen the gouges in just a few seconds on the 600 grit CBN wheel. The large scrapers and skews (and any reshaping) take longer so I use the coarser 8" wheels on the bench grinder with the Wolverine jigs (or with the Tormek jigs on the bench grinders.)

All this works well for me.

I have the straight 600 grit aluminum wheel with flat sides on the Tormek. I like the extra width of the non-radiused wheel. I also like the sharp 90 deg corners for special grinds.

The only thing I don't like about the CBN on the Tormek is the wheel rotation direction. I like to work from the front and the wheel rotates away from the edge. I'm looking into changing the motor direction. Since all tools get slightly magnetized with use, I keep a demagnetizer handy or the the edge will trail an annoying plume of black metal dust above the edge. I haven't proven it yet, but I suspect the rotation away leaves more burr on the inside of the flute than if the wheel was turning towards the edge.

I think it would be nice to be able to switch the Tormek rotation direction, even if I have to change out the motor completely. I do like the rotation for the leather stropping wheel, especially the leather profiled wheel to knock the burr off the inside of spindle and bowl gouges. I guess I could still use that with the rotation reversed but would have to get used to it.

Hey, I just thought of another option - since there is no water involved I wonder if I can turn the Tormek around and tilt it to put the top bar on the front of the machine. Hmm...

I'd really like to try a 1200 grit CBN wheel on the Tormek but hate to spend the money. Hey, you get one and tell me how it works! I bought a 1200 grit flat CBN hone and I like how it works.

JKJ

Re: CBN wheels questions

Ron Borowicz

Thanks. You've helped me make up my mind.