Bench grinder wheels.

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dkwflight

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Hi
I have had a wilton 8" bench grinder for some time now.
It always vibrated badly.
I tried making new inner washers out of some cast iron I had.
Making them a tight fit on the 5/8" shafts helped some, but not enough.
I found the sleeve adapters were a little loose. This allowed the wheels to move around on the grinder shafts.
The vibration persisted, not as bad as previously.

I finally bought the One Way system. This is worth the money, follow directions and after dressing the wheels may need a re balance.
The grinder now turns like it had no wheels installed.

The next issue comes up.
Some of my wheels have 5/8" mounting holes.
I am considering a diamond core drill to open the mounting holes up to one inch so the one way system will work.

Does any one have any suggestion for making holes in grinder wheels?
Thanks
 
What is a 'One Way System'?

Re boring out wheels, I'd say proceed with extreme caution. If you alter the strength or introduce stress, it might not end well.

I was experimenting drilling out thin grinder wheels (like Dremel size 1/8" thickness). What seemed to work best was those spade shaped carbide bits used in the glass trades & water slurry. I'm not sure if they go up to your diameter though. The existing hole acts as a pilot for progressive enlargement which is important, they don't like to start on flat, native material. Its slow going but I did manage to get through ok. Kind of hard to give a wheel that small a reliable ring test. The odd one cracked if I pushed too hard or sometimes exiting the hole.

I also tried drilling a hole with those cheapo offshore diamond coated coring bits. They do work, but barely & this was thin grinding wheel stock. Maybe the diamond grit on my tool is shiny tuna can fragments because it wore out very quickly. Probably for the price of the right tool drill tool, you can get a new wheel with correct ID?
 
[/QUOTE]My wheels are 1" thick.
I know it is simpler to spend the coin for new wheels, probably better quality than the chinese wheels I have.[/QUOTE]

It is my opinion that you should absolutely avoid drilling out the grinding wheels. Not only simpler, but it would be magnitudes safer to buy new wheels. Having a wheel come apart can carry a heavy cost in damage and personal injury.

The balancing system does look nice.

Regards,

Chuck
 
Hi
The warning on any grinder wheel is to mount the wheel, after a ring test, and get away from the running grinder for at least 5 minutes while the wheel can disintegrate.
I guess if it does not fragment in the first 5 minutes it is safe enough to use with the guards in place.

I suppose the chinese wheels I have are not worth enough to go through that trouble.
 
There is no way I would ever attempt to open out the bore of a grinding wheel, ring test or not. You simply have no way of knowing if there is a hidden defect or if you have introduced one. A ring test doesn't guarantee a sound wheel, it just reduces the chance of using an unsound one.
 

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