Wire wheels on the grinder

[Reed Gray]

I got one a year or so ago, and found it to be very handy. There is build up on all my turning tools from chucks to gouges and scrapers. A lot of this is from turning sloppy wet wood. This is more so with Madrone, which has a lot of very sticky water or what ever in it. It builds up till it feels like the tool rest has 80 grit on it. A trip to the wire wheel cleans it all off, and no loss of steel. It does take off the burr and edge, but no more to than normal turning. It is really handy for cleaning the outsides of a chuck, and faster than solvents, not to mention no stink. You do need to stand out of the line of fire because some of the wires will come off as you clean things off. I had to order one for my Baldor grinders because they have a 3/4 inch shaft. The big box stores carry ones with 5/8 and 1/2 inch holes.

robo hippy

[terry mccammon]

Reed

I have a soft buffing wheel on the other end of my grinder charged with the green rubbing compount (used I believe for polishing stainless). I run my gouges, tools, tool rests, etc over that from time to time. I suspect the wire wheel is quicker.

[Michael Mills]

1+ on staying out of the line of fire. Especially when the brush is new you may wind up with 2 -3 sticking out of your arm when you finish.

My grinding table has 1/2” so I purchased a Jacobs chuck with 1/2” thread mount and chuck up a wire brush in the Jacobs chuck if needed.
For other things, like table saw tops, a cup brush for a 4.5” angle grinder makes very short work. Also works well for anything you can hold down (such as in a vice) but I wouldn’t try small items free hand.

[Thom Sturgill]

When I got back into my shop after a bad summer, just about everything had a light coat of rust. I re-mounted my wire wheel in a secondary grinder and will probably leave it there. I heartily agree with staying out of the line of fire. Especially if you are on blood thinners or aspirin therapy. DAMHIK:eek: Also make darn sure you have eye protection on. I once had to take a guy to the ophthalmologist to have a small wire removed from his eye. Not pretty!

[John Sanford]

Steel or brass wire wheel?

[Tim Leiter]

Steel wire wheel is a lot more aggressive. I use a brass wheel, which is softer. It does a good job and has less a tendency to scratch the items, IMO.............Tim.

[Russell Neyman]

I took the Beall polishing system lathe adapter (Morse taper and threaded Ferrel) and expanded the array of wheels that can be mounted on it considerably using nothing.more than an ordinary coarse thread carriage bolts.

Besides the aforementioned steel brushes (for cleaning tools, etc) I have a brass one for texturing grain. I also turned several wood disks and added self-adhesive sandpaper, pretty handy for flattening bases and removing tenons

Finally, I mounted a series of cloth wheels dedicated to polishing various metals and plastic surfaces.

This is certainly easier than changing wheels on my bench grinder, and the variable speed capability helps, too.

Glad you brought.up the subject, Reed.

[Bob Bergstrom]

I too use my lathe to mount the wheel. Variable speed is hard to beat.

[Reed Gray]

Brass wire wheels???? Oh no! Not another tool that I 'have' to have...... I have had the steel ones. They do remove a burr fairly well, and are more aggressive for removing crud.

robo hippy