Best wheels for grinding HSS

[19brendan81]

What is the best combination of wheels for a dedicated HSS tool grinder? I was thinking of getting cup wheels that are suited for grinding on the sides (where they are flat).

Brendan

[old_fella]

Bench grinder is pretty good for grinding the majority of tools, its good to have a course wheel to rough them out and a finer wheel to finish it and just run over it with a honing stone. A tool and cutter grinder comes in handy if u want to grind chip breakers but u can still do them on a bench grinder

[Graziano]

Most grinders come with grey aluminium oxide wheels, you'd need to fit green silicon carbide or ideally cubic boron nitride CBN wheels but not diamond wheels which are damaged by steel.

[Dave J]

Here are a couple of links discussing wheels from a while back with good info.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/what-best-grinding-wheels-sharpering-122967/
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f155/bench-grinder-wheels-sharpening-tools-109485/

And here is a site for more info on wheels
Grinding Wheels Australian Industrial Abrasives (http://www.australianabrasives.com/grinding-wheels.html)

I just picked up a heap of new grinding wheels from the markets but haven't sorted them all out yet. I got some tool post grinder size ones, but the the tool post grinder is still on the to do list.lol

Dave

[Stustoys]

Graziano I thought green silicon carbide was for tungsten cardide?

I've seen else where that grinding HSS on diamond wheels isnt a good idea as it wears them faster, do you have any more details? As I bought a couple of diamond wheels to make a milling cutting grinder, but now I'm not sure I should use them.

Stuart

[.RC.]

I have a diamond wheel and I use it to finish sharpen HSS tools and tungsten carbide.... It seems to last OK for the minimal use I give it...

[Dave J]

I am sure the green is for carbide and the diamond is even better for carbide, but not to be used on steel. The white is superior for HSS but the standard grey will shape and sharpen it.
Dave

[Graziano]

Graziano I thought green silicon carbide was for tungsten cardide?

I've seen else where that grinding HSS on diamond wheels isnt a good idea as it wears them faster, do you have any more details? As I bought a couple of diamond wheels to make a milling cutting grinder, but now I'm not sure I should use them.

Stuart

Green silicon carbide handles both steel and carbide, i.e. tool steel and carbide brazed on steel. Silicon carbide grains and aluminium oxide are both nine on the Moh's hardness scale but silicon carbide grains are sharper and pointier than aluminium oxide and cut better. If you have brazed carbide tooling on steel you'll bugger up a diamond wheel if the diamond grit comes in contact with the steel body while sharpening the carbide tip. Cubic Boron Nitride is even better than silicon carbide approaching diamond but can grind steel easily without damage.

[old_fella]

If i remember from tafe when surface grinding we would use aluminium oxide wheels for steel and silicon carbide for cast, i think the silicon carbide is better suited for non ferrous materials

[Graziano]

If i remember from tafe when surface grinding we would use aluminium oxide wheels for steel and silicon carbide for cast, i think the silicon carbide is better suited for non ferrous materials


If silicon carbide is no good for ferrous metals, why would they make angle grinder and cut off wheels out of it, aluminium oxide is a lot cheaper than silicon carbide to make them out of. Also I have access to a Blohm surface grinder and it runs about a 40 grit silicon carbide on steel and cast iron: it kind of makes steel wool as swarf.

[19brendan81]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Whats the best place to buy these grinding wheels?

[pipeclay]

Ebay,Industrial Suppliers,Abrassive Suppliers.

[rusty steel]

Hello Brendan,
I went through this exercise a few years ago and ended up with a Norton A46MVBE ( Blue Medium Aluminium Oxide) and a Norton 39C80JVK ( Green Fine Silicon Carbide) on my 8" grinder, and I bought a small 6" grinder from Supercheap and replaced the 60 grit wheel with a Norton 38A80KVBE (White Fine Aluminium Oxide ) which I use just for touching up the edge on my HSS tips.
I use a dressing stick to resurface the wheels and I also have a diamond tipped wheel dresser. I sourced my wheels from Blackwoods.
Regards, Russell

[19brendan81]

Thanks Russell,

Are you happy with your purchase? How much are these wheels roughly?

Brendan

[rusty steel]

Hello Brendan,
From memory I think the 8"x1" wheels were about $25.00 ea. and the 6"x1/2" was about $15.00. I am happy with my set up. I also have a 36 grit wheel to use if I have a lot of metal to remove. Less heat is generated when using the more coarse wheels as when grinding up a new lathe tool.
Regards, Russell

[19brendan81]

Cheers Rusty!