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Good Hope Hardwoods - Walnut Slabs & Specialty Hardwood Lumber

buy yourself a CBN wheel.

Posts

buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#1

buy yourself a CBN wheel.

john lucas

When I first started turning sharpening was really a pain. I was using gray wheels that were worn and not balanced. The tool bounced like crazy and when I finished sharpening it looked more like a faceted diamond than a turning tool. I never really knew if my problems were that i didn't get the edge sharp or it was my tool technique.

then I got some white aluminum oxide wheels on a slow speed grinder. helped a lot although I did have some bounce. I built my version of a diamond truing jig somewhat similar to the Oneway jig. What an improvement. The tools would just sit on the wheel with no bounce. I was still having to adjust the V arm all the time as the wheel diameter changed but some simple home made jigs solved that problem.

Then I upgraded to a CBN wheel. Man what a difference. Absolutely not tool bounce at all. I went with a finer grit and get a much sharper edge that seems to make the tools hold the edge longer. I got a special bar locking device and now my V arm stays in the same position all the time so I remove almost no steel which makes my tools last longer. I changed the grind on my spindle gouges slightly so I can use the same settings on my Wolverine jig and just put a V block in the V arm to move the jig forward so my spindle gouges have a steeper angle. Very very happy with this set up.

I have a strip sander and have played with various grits and I have a Tormek grinder. The sandpaper wears out too fast on the 1" strip sander. Perhaps the 3" version from Sorby would be better and obviously a lot of people like that set up. I use my Tormek for plane and planer blades and hate to keep truing it up after using it for turning tools and have thought about going to CBN wheels for that. But that would mean buying another jig to hold the gouges and the expense of the wheel so that may not happen for a while.

What I'm saying is at least for me and I think for a lot of you, getting a CBN wheel for your slow speed grinder is the best way to go for most people. The CBN wheels have come down in price. sure they are about 3 times as expensive as a good Aluminum oxide wheel but then they never change size, you don't have to true them up, and they don't bounce the tool.

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#2

Dick Hines

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

Dick Hines

Can CBN wheels be used on high speed grinders? I am using my Grandfathers grinder. It runs at over 3000 RPM.

Right now I am using blue Norton wheels. I don't want to but a new grinder.

Cheap is as cheap does.

:D

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#3

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

John K Jordan

I use CBN on the 1/2 speed grinders but I know people who use them on the full speed bench grinders. I understand that CBN is far better than diamond where the speed will produce heat since the diamond will degrade where the CBN will not. I do keep two bench grinders with good aluminum oxide wheels but mostly for grinding mild steel. BTW, I used the Oneway balancing system for perfect balance on AlOx wheels at high speed.

I echo John's statements about CBN. I resisted buying one when turners living on the edge were all switching, but once I got my first CBN wheel I'd hate to go back. Those I use the most are 80 grit for shaping, 600 grit for sharpening most lathe tools, and 1200 grit on a Tormek for sharpening my spindle gouges. The 600 grit works so well I don't even use the 180.


JKJ

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#4

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

Reed Gray

Now days, when people ask me about CBN wheels, I tell them that it is like going from a 4 pulley change the belt lathe to variable speed. You will never go back. The wheels are spin and bubble balanced so they run true, and are fine on a high speed grinder. Only problem with some grinders is that they can be under powered. These wheels are wider and heavier (oh, the 1 1/2 inch wide wheel is also like going to variable speed...) so you do want a full 3/4 hp motor. Ken Rizza does make aluminum and plastic hubbed wheels which are lighter than the steel ones from D Way and Cuttermaster, and some mount them on the 1/2 hp Rikon which 'takes a little while to get up to speed'. I have mine on Baldor grinders, and have the 1 hp Rikon as well, which comes up to speed as fast as the Baldor. Note here, I did concrete construction for 30 years, and prefer to have things over built rather than underbuilt... I did chat with Ken at the Oregon Woodturnig Symposium last weekend. He makes a special set of washers for the CBN wheels. One is concave and one is convex. The reason for this is that the nuts that hold the wheels on are not machined to be dead flat so they can put some wobble into the wheels, which in my experience seems to pretty much vanish once the wheels get up to speed. I had never considered that. I got sets of those washers for all of my grinders. There has never been any run out issues on the Baldor grinders which are a considerable step up from the Rikon, but the 1 hp Rikon is a good deal for the money. I have had to modify the wheel guard by cutting a bit of the lower side off so my robo rest can scoot up to the proper distance from the wheel. My grinders are bolted to plywood for transportation to demos. The first Rikon I got, maybe 3 years ago, needed to have the base flattened because there was maybe 1/8 inch of rocking in it when set onto the plywood. This was after taking the rubber feet off. The second one I got, a few months back, sat dead flat right out of the box. The light on it is worthless, and I took the dust ports off. The Wolverine base had to be up on a 3/4 inch piece of plywood to get it to height.

If you buy one CBN wheel, get a 180. If you are getting 2, then get the 600. Not sure about the 320 or 1000 though. I have found the 600 grit wheel to be great for some fine finish cuts in softer punky woods. Not as good for heavy roughing though.

robo hippy

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#5

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

Tom Gall

Yes. I had a #180 CBN on my 7"- 3600 rpm - 1/2 hp grinder for 5-6 years...no problem. Two years later I added an #80 CBN...still no problem, but it did take an extra second or two to come up to speed. Six months ago I bought a Rikon 8" - 1hp slow speed grinder for the CBNs :) because I realized I didn't have a grinder for general grinding with Alox wheels. >(

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#6

I also have been using a 180 grit CBN wheel ......

JamieDonaldson

.....for several years, and couldn't do without it! I am still using a Norton blue 60 grit wheel for rough shaping on my low speed Baldor, the 80 grit CBN I tried was a bit less aggressive, and I have an extra 60 grit AlO wheel to wear out before going to an 80 grit CBN some time in the future. ;)

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#7

Yes!

Don Orr

I have a CBN wheel on my full speed grinder with no problem-180 grit. Sometimes for a light touchup I don't power it all the way up to speed though. I have a beater AlOx wheel on the other side for rough work.

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#8

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

Stuart Johnson

How does the 1200 CBN compare to the stone grading on the Tormek? Which brand / dealer did you use?

Re: buy yourself a CBN wheel.

#9

CBN on Tormek

John K Jordan

>>>How does the 1200 CBN compare to the stone grading on the Tormek? Which brand / dealer did you use?

It's not quite as fine as the water wheel after using the fine side of the grading stone but it's not bad. I use it for my spindle gouges which i'm especially particular about, but then I lightly hone/polish the edge with the leather wheels on the Tormek so the result is about the same. I LOVE not having to mess with loading the stone wheel with water and having to true the wheel occasionally.

The 1200 grit is great for resharpening a tool but pretty slow for even minor reshaping. I do moderate reshaping on the bench grinder with the 600 wheel which is surprisingly fast. I mounted a Tormek bracket and support bar so I can use the Tormek jigs on the grinder. (BTW, the wheel in this picture was my first CBN. I immediately discovered I didn't like the radiused edges for the kind of tools I sharpen so I gave it away.)


I first bought a 600 grit wheel for the Tormek but it seemed far coarser than the water wheel. I like the 1200 much better. Some days I think I'd like a 2400 grit wheel but that sounds a little crazy.

One thing to deal with for a dry CBN wheel on the Tormek: If sharpening from the front in the "away" direction a magnetized tool will tend to develop an annoying trail of fine steel dust which sticks to the edge and obscures the edge from examination. Note that lathe tools can naturally become magnetized in normal use even if never placed on contact with or near a magnet. What I do is keep a demagnetizer on the wall next to the sharpening station. One of the inexpensive tool magnetizer/demagnetizers might work but I use an "ancient" bulk tape eraser I bought in the '70s.

So far I've bought all my CBN wheels from Ken Rizza at Woodturners Wonders.

JKJ

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