Dumb Bench Grinder Question

[glxman]

Hi Guys,

I'm not the "sharpest tool in the shed", but I can usually work things out,

Had my 6" grinder since 1985, it had come time to change one of the wheels,

Got the old wheel off and noticed that I had loosened both nuts?

I figured that the left and right hand thread was to stop the wheels undoing during operation?

The only way I could find to tighten the nuts was to wedge some timber against the wheel while tightening each nut,

Is this the right way to go about replacing wheels?
How tight do you tighten them?

Regards,
Gary
PS:Noticed a bit of vibration since changing the wheel?

[Chumley]

Hi Gary,

Had the same deal with mine a couple of months ago - from memory I had to wedge the wheel to loosen the nut as the axle passes through the whole thing. When you redo the nut, don't overtighten.

The vibration is probably related to an out-of-balance wheel. I dug around the forum and found the following:

Balancing a new grinding wheel.

Have you noticed the arrow on one side of the wheel? It is put there for a reason.
The reason? So that you have a reference point on which to align it.

Put wheel on with correct bush size. DON'T OVERTIGHTEN!! Start up grinder and switch off. Watch to see if wheel wobbles as it slows down. If it does, put arrow at top, loosen wheel and without moving the shaft rotate wheel until arrow is at bottom. Start up grinder and switch off. Watch to see if wheel wobbles as it slows down.

If it still does it, move the wheel ( as indicated by arrow) a quarter, an eighth until the wobble is minimal. Tighten nut firmly, a little over finger tight is enough. You are only holding it on not trying to crush it. Dress wheel to get round and square.

I have found that most wheels wobble a bit from new. Leave the paper on the sides as they are like shock absorbers.

Hope this helps.

PS. If it has no arrow use a texta to put one on.

I can't remember who it came from, so can't give them a plug, but it was very useful, so whoever it was, thanks again.

Also found this on my travels (I now use a white wheel for most tool sharpening):

Grinding wheel types:
Green – for masonry bits, extremely hard
Grey – for thick metals, very hard
Red – for medium metals, moderately hard
White – for tempered blades + drills, soft

Cheers,
Adam

[artme]

No Question is "dumb."
You want information you ask a question. On this forum you get good answers and courtesy.

[billym]

to right:)

[Ashore]

The only way I could find to tighten the nuts was to wedge some timber against the wheel while tightening each nut,

PS:Noticed a bit of vibration since changing the wheel?

Yep usually the easiest way as well


The vibration could be a couple of things , the first being the new wheel being new is larger than the existing wheel on the other side that has been used , thus its a little heaver,
The motor bearings or bearing housings are worn , are they sleeves or ball bearings a slightly larger wheel on one side will make this much more noticable
The bushes you used on the new wheel were they new and were they a good tight fit on the shaft , even 1mm play will cause vibration, you can check this against the rest after the wheel is first fitted to make sure its running true if this is the problem loosen the wheel a tad move it to make sure its running true to the rest then retighten
The wheel may simply need dressing
Though I think the first is most likely :rolleyes:

[glxman]

Thanks for your prompt replies, a lot more in it than I thought,

>Adam
Thank you for passing on the info, much appreciated,
I would have the nuts too tight for a start! (I was a bit paranoid about the wheels coming off)

>Ashore
Sleeves or ball bearings? will check tomorrow!
Bushes on new wheel? it was a Norton's fine, appeared to just slide on with a snug fit!

Last but not least,
Should bushes come with a new wheel? Or is that a separate purchase?

Thanks again for all your help guys!

One thing I did notice was that the new white Norton wheel is a lot lighter than the old grey wheel on the other side

Regards,
Gary

[Ashore]

If there is a significant weight diffrence this will cause an out of balance ( vibration ) effect , bolt the grinder down well to reduce this :2tsup:

[glxman]

Problem solvered!

First few goes at aligning the wheel with the marker didn't work, I must have let the shaft slip,

Finally I got it right and 1/4 turn did the trick,

Found out where the bushes were, they were multiple nylon sleeves that come with the wheel,

On the final adjustment, the wobble is almost gone,

At the start, the wobble was really bad,

Thanks for all your help guys, very much appreciated,

Regards,
Gary
PS: Thanks for the "heads up" on the wheel colours, found out about the white, did not know what the other colours were