cbn wheels

Re: cbn wheels

Paul Grenier

I ended up buying my CBN wheels from Ken Rizza at Wood Turners Wonders. I got an 80grit with radiused edges and a 350 grit non radiuse wheel. I got the metal core wheels and don't have any experience with the non metal core wheels. Call Ken and talk to him. He'll sell you what you need not things that you don't need. His customer service is great. I use the 80 grit for my scrapers and if I damage any of my tools (so far hasn't happened) to straighten our the damage. I use the 350 on all of my gouges - spindle and bowl and it sharpens them to a very keen edge.

You didn't ask for recommendations for turning tools, but I've replaced all of my Sorby tools with tools from Doug Thompson at Thompson Tools. His prices are very good and they come either with or without a handle. His steel is of extremely high quality and they hold an edge very well. He also won't sell you anything that you don't need and in fact will recommend that you start out with just a couple tools based on the type of turning that you do or want to do.

Re: cbn wheels *LINK*

john lucas

Ryan I love my 180 grit. My wheel came from Dway but I have several friends who purchased the wheels from Ken and love them. I have used them and don't see any disadvantage at all and Ken will treat you right. He has a deal right now on some new aluminum based wheels that are the same price as the Nylon ones.


https://woodturnerswonders.com/

I believe Ken has discontinued the .......

JamieDonaldson

.......nylon centered wheels, and after seeing them I was not convinced they would be free from future distortions as well as the metal wheels. My 180 came from DWay and I have been most pleased during the 2+ yrs. I've used it. After using an 80 grit CBN I decided to keep my Norton 60 grit, the CBN didn't cut as well for shaping.

Re: cbn wheels

David Smith

I purchased my CBN wheels from Ken and they arrived yesterday. His customer service is outstanding. I had an issue with a CBN wheel for my Tormek and without hesitation he replaced it. That is why I bought two cbn wheels for my bench grinder from him.

I considered the less expensive ones but I wanted the wider 1.5" wheel so that I don't accidentally fall off the edge while grinding, and some of my skews are wider than 1". I opted not to go with the radius edge as the only benefit I could find for it was sharpening hollowing bits and for that I'm already used to sharpening them on a stone without the radius edge. It was an option that I wouldn't have used all that often where as the extra 1/2" of grinding surface I would take advantage of every time I used the grinder to sharpen.

I chose an 80 grit for shaping and for my scrapers. And for the second wheel I received a 350 grit. I would have been happy with the 180 or the 220 grit as well. And if I was to purchase only one wheel it would be the 180 grit as from what I've read the consensus is this is the best all purpose grit.

I also second giving Ken at woodturningwonders a call, he's very helpful in helping to decide what would be a good fit for you.

Re: I believe Ken has discontinued the .......

john lucas

Jamie what do you mean by shaping. I would think there would be virtually no difference between an 80 grit and 60 grit. I remember I had an 80 grit and 120 grit white aluminum oxide wheel and could not tell the difference in cuts for anything but the final passes where the 120 leaves a cleaner cut.

I can rough out and shape anything with my 180 CBN and Glen Lucas does a huge amount of shaping and final cutting with a Tormek grinder which is 1000 grit.

Re: cbn wheels

mark paulley

Ryan,

I bought my wheels from Vince a Vinceswoodnwonders.com His are 1.5" wide which in my opinion are better then the 1" wide, gives you a bit more room for maneuvering you tool and safety. He has 5 different grits available.

Re: cbn wheels

George Balock

I got my CBN wheels from Ken also. I agree with everyone regarding the great customer service. Also. I purchased the spherical washers. When I first got the wheels, I had a wobble that the spherical washers eliminated.

Vince has great customer service as well

john lucas

Ihaven't bought any CBN wheels from him but by all my sanding discs from him. Oh and my sanding madrels as well. Great guy.

John, I was comparing the speed .....

JamieDonaldson

......of aggressive reshaping I was accustomed to with my Norton 60 wheel, and the CBN 80 was not nearly as aggressive as I had expected, so no incentive to change my current set-up for now. The 60 Norton for heavy grinding, the CBN 180 for "renewing the edge."

Re: John, I was comparing the speed .....

John C Lucas

Gotcha. Thought you were talking about cutting with the tool. I find CBN wheels cut more aggresively than their grit. My 180 will reshape an edge surprisingly fast. Not like a 60 grit of course.

Re: cbn wheels

Reed Gray

I didn't know Vince was selling CBN wheels.... I get e-mails about once a week from businesses in China who want me to import their CBN grinding wheels.... No interest at all in that.

So, choices. If you are getting one, then get the 180 grit. It creates a nice burr on scrapers for heavy duty bowl roughing, and a nice burr for shear scraping. My old one has to be 6 or more years old, and it does cut pretty slowly now, and it had a couple of years of production work on it. Might have to retire it.... The 180 is fine for about 90% of the turning you will ever do.

For shaping tools, it depends on how much shaping you have to do. If you get a square scraper blank with no bevel, then you need a 36 grit belt sander. If you want to change from a 70 degree bevel to a 60 degree bevel, you can do it on an 80 grit wheel, but it is a slow process. Dave Schweitzer uses a 60 grit wheel on a 10 inch Jet high speed grinder for his shaping. Doug, I think, has about a 40 grit wheel on a high speed grinder for the shaping he does at shows.

You want the wide wheels. Even after I made the switch from jig sharpening to platform sharpening, I would run off the edge of the 1 inch wheels. Dang, major divot in wing, more grinding needed.... I don't think that has ever happened with the 1 1/2 inch wheels. I prefer the straight edge to the radius edge. The radius edge is nice for hollowing bits though.

robo hippy

I need more grinders

John C Lucas

I have.a slow.speed.grinder with 120 aluminum wheel.and 180 CBN. I have an older Tormek, a 1" strip.sander and a 2" strip.sander. also an old craftsman 6" with a green wheel.for carbide tools a d a course gray wheel.

shaping scrapers

John K Jordan

>>> If you get a square scraper blank with no bevel, then you need a 36 grit belt sander.

I don't know about "need", although 36 grit sounds like it would be quick.

I ground these from square Thompson scraper blanks (and one skew chisel) using the 80 grit CBN and I don't remember it being a chore.

I ground the profile first then the bevel using an angled tool rest. (Some day I'm gonna save up and buy a Robo rest.)

JKJ

Re: cbn wheels

Don Evans

I recently read an article somewhere that left me with the impression that you DON'T want a cbn wheel for sharpening. Instead u want a diamond wheel for reason I cannot remember.

Anyone familiar with where I may have seen that article, I want to read it again?

It probably was on the internet, or American Woodturner. It could have been Woodturning Mag and Wood Carving both from GMC in Britain.

I also take Amercan Woodturning Illustrated So could have been any of those.

Don

Re: cbn wheels

John K Jordan

>>>I recently read an article somewhere that left me with the impression that you DON'T want a cbn wheel for sharpening.

I believe the problem with diamond on relatively high speed bench grinders is the heat can degrade the diamond in the presence of steel.

I believe you have that backwards Don

Dick Coers

Diamond wheels came out and were the new best thing. Until the marketed lifetime wheel quickly degraded.

Per Peter Child's website;

Diamond grit wheels

These are getting cheaper all the time with the introduction of better methods of producing synthetic diamonds. Diamond wheels are not suitable for grinding steel but they can be used at very low speeds in a water trough with some success. If used on a high speed grinder on steel the diamonds will be gradually destroyed because the carbon (diamonds are 100% carbon) will dissolve into the iron or actually burn in air. Diamond grinding is reserved for carbides such as tungsten carbide and for other hard non-ferrous materials. Honing your steel tools by hand is OK because the diamonds do not get hot.

Re: I believe you have that backwards Don

mikeee12345

Wood is composed of carbon based elements, no wonder all of my tools get dull. ;-)

Re: I believe you have that backwards Don

Don Evans

Perhaps I got it backwards don't know really.

I'd like to find the article again and read it again. Also, just cause someone wrote something doesn't make it accurate.

No one said, so I guess no one remembers it and they wouldn't if I just got it backwards.

Thx for info....

Don

Diamond wheel article

Clifton C

Don, one article I read that discussed diamond wheels was in American Woodturner volume 26 No. 2, page 26. I've stumbled onto a few other that pretty much say the same thing but cannot find them at the moment...

cc

Article - Diamond or CBN?

John K Jordan

I have this article bookmarked. It is fairly technical but has some clear statements in everyday English, for example "high thermal stability makes CBN the superabrasive of choice for the grinding of all varieties of steel alloys--an area where diamond abrasives are not normally employed. Even with a melting point of 4,000ƒC, which is the highest of all materials, diamond has substantial thermal limitations in many grinding applications: " and the list that follows.

Hard Choices: Diamond or CBN?

http://www.gearsolutions.com/article/detail/5499/hard-choices-diamond-or-cbn

Basically, diamond appears to be not recommended for grinding steel at high speeds, i.e., on a bench grinder.

JKJ