Which Grinding Wheel Dresser?

[Tony Shea]

I am fairly new to the world of power grinding my edges on my cutting tools, chisels, plane irons, etc. I must admit that with the right setup it is so much faster than by hand and abrasives.

My issue now is the trueness of the new white aluminum oxide 80 grit wheel I've purchased. Right out of the box it is not all that true and needs some attention. I just can't decide on a decent wheel dresser that isn't going to be a waste of money and is easy to use. I've seen the wheel style dresser, T-shaped wheel dresser, and the diamond point dresser at the end of a round rod. The diamond point dresser is the most expensive and looks to be the hardest to use as it would require a jig of some sort. The T-style dresser looks to be the easiest to use but am not sure how well the abrasive holds up. I would love some opinions of which dresser has worked well for you guys as I don't want to waste my money on such a simple item.

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[Myk Rian]

I use diamond whetstones.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Images/products/411935.jpg

[David Weaver]

A good quality single point dresser would be choice #1.

Cheap choice #1 would be the cheap T style HF diamond dresser with coarse diamonds on it, which also works well on the tormek wheels, too. (i've been using one for two years on gray and white dry grinder wheels, and on the black tormek wheel, which the regular dresser doesn't work fast enough on).

Never used a wheel - style dresser and don't understand how it would waste off the corners of a new grinding wheel.

[Tony Shea]

The wheel style dresser doesn't make much sense to me either. Not sure how something that spins is going to take down the abrasive grinding wheel. I'd be interested in what its use entails. I was contemplating going with the cheap T-style dresser but just wanted to make sure that this is going to hold up for a while and properly true a wheel.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Wheel style dressers work great. I've used 'em for decades in machine shops and have one for my 10" grinder station at home.

Single point diamond dressers are superb too. You need a little knowledge to use diamond whether it's a single point or that little T dresser (which is smaller than you might imagine). Speed and angle are important when using diamond. You don't want to spin the wheel fast and make the diamond glow.
Angle is important too cause you don't want to laterally load the diamond. That'll crack it.

That little T dresser with the encrusted diamonds is a bit of a joke. I own one and was disappointed right out of the box (cheap poly wrapper really). The problem is that the thing is too damn light. It is so light that it just follows the irregularities in a wheel face making imperfections more pronounced. Maybe the maker intended it as a mere de-clogger for wheels that don't need dressing and truing. It can de-clog a wheel leaving a nice flat face. It can't true a wheel up though.

To use it to true a wheel you'd need to mount it to something heavy so it doesn't just follow the wheel's flaws.

[John McClanahan]

I tried to true a gray stone with a T type tool and promptly ground the grit off the dresser!:eek:

The wheel type work great for getting a fresh grinding surface, or removing a groove from the face of a grinding wheel. They work by pounding the surface of the stone, breaking away the old grit and revealing a fresh grinding surface.

I have never used a diamond point dresser (yet).

John

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Tony,
Visit the Turners Forum. There is a very good thread started a couple days ago about this exact topic. It may be a title something like "Will Oneway balancing system work on my slow speed grinder." It will give you lots of answers.
fmr