cBN grinding wheel

[Todd Bin]

Anyone here use cBN (cubic Boron Nitride) grinding wheels to sharpen their tools. This seems to have a lot of advantages like not heating up your tools, the wheel is perfectly balanced and no risk of it blowing up. I was wondering how well it does in practice and how long it lasts.

Thanks,
Todd

[Tim Rinehart]

Interesting question...as I was just perusing some polls from WOW and thought I had accurately recalled at least one person there who uses them, though there were two. One was Dave Schweitzer, who was recently featured in AAW magazine, and has his own line of tools and ... also sells the CBN wheels...I just noticed. I have no affiliation with Dave, but have used his tools and they are fine tools. http://www.d-waytools.com/

[Todd Bin]

Thanks Tim,

I saw them on D-waytools and that is what prompted my question. I know they use cBN for industrial applications but was wondering if anyone had actually used it. Seems like a good idea. Maybe I'll get one and let everyone know how it works.

~Todd

[Alan Trout]

I have quite a bit of experience with CBN round inserts when I was in the machine tool industry. We used them for surfacing cast iron and it was a fabulous cutter in that application. They cut clean, smooth, fast,and cool, as no coolant was needed. I think Robo Hippy has been using them for some time. I might try them when I have a couple hundred extra laying around.

Alan

[Reed Gray]

I have been using the CBN wheels for 5 or more years now, can't remember exactly, and love them. I was searching for the ultimate grinding wheel, and was thinking diamond. Among the companies I contacted, Norton told me there was a guy here in town that could make them for me (Northwest Super Abrasives, and they are associated with Belsaw which has a couple of places around the country). They told me diamond wheels were fine for carbide, but not for steel. Mainly, because steel is softer, it will clog a diamond wheel, and you can't clean them off. CBN is made for grinding steel. 8 by 1 inch wheels were $300 each, and made to order. The CBN abrasive is in a matrix which is bonded about 1/4 inch thick onto an aluminum hub/wheel. They come balanced and true, so nothing to do other than mount on your grinder. You do have to specify arbor size. I got an 80 and 320 grit wheel. I still have the 80 grit wheel which is not quite half way used up. The 320 wore out after about a year. I now have a 150 grit wheel on. You clean the wheels with some very hard aluminum oxide sticks that were provided to me. I eventually got some of the work out AO wheels that they use to true the wheels. They will eat diamond dressing sticks if you try to use them. The wheels do get some run out with heavy use, and I take mine back about once a year to get them trued up again. Simple because they are here in town. I love them.

Bill Neddow will be doing an article for the AAW magazine, which will cover grinding wheels. If you want to read up some on grinding wheels, the following link is to the Australian Woodworking forum. Click onto general woodturning, then search for Diamond Grinding wheels. It is a very long thread, and covers a lot of info about diamond, CBN, and other grinding wheels.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/

robo hippy