Diamond grinding wheel??

[Hilel Salomon]

I noticed in a magazine on turning, that one of the turners was sharpening his gouges on a 360 grit diamond wheel. It looks pretty neat. Have any of you used such a wheel?

Hilel

[Reed Gray]

Haven't tried them or seen them. I did talk to a guy locally here (Norton sent me to him) who makes them and other grinding wheels. His comment was that they are good for grinding carbide, but not steel. They will clog up, and there is really no way to clean them. He recommended CBN (cubic boric nitride) wheels as they are made for grinding steel. Cost of an 8 by 1 inch wheel is about $300. My 80 grit wheel is over 4 years old now, and still has about 1/8 inch of the original 3/16 of material on the aluminum wheel. I think Woodcraft is carrying them, at a cost of around $80.

robo hippy

[Sid Matheny]

Back in my machine shop days we only used them for carbide. And for carbide they did work great!

Sid

[Don Geiger]

I have one from Woodcraft. It costs $140. It is an 8" diam. X 1" wide, has a soilid Aluminum center and a thin layer of diamond grit (in a brown binder) around the perimeter. Mine and most that I have seen eventually get a groove right in the center of the diamond layer because that is where you place your tools. They can not be dressed so you have to contend with the groove. When is wears through- it has met it's end!

I am of the opinion that it is not worth the money if you are only sharpening high speed steel tools. I reserve the use of mine to only shaping and sharpening my carbide tipped bits I use in my Kobra Deep Hollowing system. At least with these bits, I've built a little holder that I place on the Wolverine platform rest and can control the bits so well that I have started spreading out the area I use on the width of the wheel so I can extend the life of the wheel.

Again- I don't recommend a diamond wheel if you are planning to use it on HSS tools. It's not necessary, it's too expensive, you can't dress the wheel and when the diamond layer wears through- it's done.

Don Geiger

[Bernie Weishapl]

Hilel I agree with Don and Reed. I have a friend and neighbor that has one. He bought it for I think around $325. He was sharpening HSS it is a waste of time. Carbide it is fine but like the others said HSS will ruin it. Don't waste your time with it Hilel. Get you some good Norton stones.

[Reed Gray]

CBN can be cleaned with a very hard aluminum oxide stone, and when needed, it can be dressed back where I had them made. They will eat diamond dressers.

robo hippy