Grinder choices, grinder speed

[Aaron Wingert]

I just wish I could afford two of the CBN's.

The idea of having a 1-1/2" width to grind on is nice too....Beats a 1" wheel all day long.

[Ryan Baker]

Aaron, you have correctly determined that the problem is the cup washers ... or more specifically the way they [fail to] seat against the tiny shoulder on the shaft. You will never get those to sit square. The only way to make that grinder useable is to go to a solution that doesn't use the cup washers. In my case, I used a Oneway balancing kit -- the hubs fit nicely on the shafts. (I also got rid of the stupid speed nuts at the same time.) The CBN wheels should solve the problem the same way, though I have not tried them personally. Note that if you only replace the wheel on one side, there will be a certain amount of vibration transmitted over from the wheel on the other side. You will probably want to apply some fix to the other side as soon as possible. Another partial solution -- if you can find/make/have made a machined washer to replace the cup washer (with the center hole machined precisely enough to seat square on the shaft step), that will make a big improvement in the wheel balance.

[Aaron Wingert]

My CBN wheel's ordered (1-1/2" wide 180 grit). You guys sure do have a talent for sucking money out of my wallet and getting it in the hands of folks that make cool tools and tool-related accessories. In all seriousness, thank you all for your help with this. Spoke with Dave at D-Way tools at length and he's definitely a good guy and I can't wait to try that wheel when it comes.

Now focusing my attention on getting the Norton wheel to run smooth on the opposite side of the grinder. Ryan, I'm liking your idea of going with a machined washer instead of the stamped cup washer, which is something I've been considering pretty hard since I started messing with this problem. When I get home tonight I'm going to see if the machined flat washer that goes on the outside of the wheels would work for this on the inside....I don't have high expectations for that, but it sure would be nice if they would, because with the addition of the CBN wheel I'll now have a spare washer. Going to see what I can come up with, but may end up going with Oneway's wheel balancing setup. With the addition of the CBN wheel on one side, it would be a shame to have the Norton wheel on the other side wobbling like crazy.

[Reed Gray]

In a really bad case, you take both wheels off, and run the motor to see how much run out there is. Then, mount one wheel, and true it up. If you have a platform, you can use a dresser, and ease it into the wheel, gently nibbling off the high spots and wide spots, till it runs fairly true. Mark wheel, washer, and shaft orientation so you can put it back on exactly the same way. Then take that wheel off, and do the other side. then put them both back on, and fine tune them together. Once done, they should be fine, with minor tune ups.

Or, you could buy a Baldor grinder.

robo hippy

[Ryan Baker]

Oneway has machined washers -- there is usually one in with the balancing kit. If you contact Oneway, they might sell you a couple washers for some nominal charge.

[Aaron Wingert]

The CBN is just plain amazing. AMAZING. Thanks guys.

I'm probably going to get the Oneway balancing kit for my Norton wheel to get it running better. Hopefully with a machined washer and all.

[Bill Neddow]

I did a tremendous amount of research on grinder wheels for an article I wrote for the AAW magazine -- an I agree totally with Reed.

[Aaron Wingert]

Just a little update on this quest:

Still getting a small amount of vibration even with the CBN wheel running true and the 3X wheel removed. I removed the large hinged nuts that hold the wheels on the arbors on, because I wanted to rule them out as being out of balance. I got myself a left hand 5/8-11 nut and put it on there. It really smoothed the grinder up in a hurry. So those hinged nuts were definitely out of balance.

My OneWay wheel balancing system is on the way as well, in hopes of getting the 3X wheel running true.

[Aaron Wingert]

A final update:

The Oneway balancing system on my 3X wheel worked slick. It took about 90% of the wobble out of the wheel and it took 100% of the vibration out of the grinder. It has maybe 1/32" of wobble left, but nothing I can't live with. The grinder runs as smooth as silk now. Thanks for all the help guys, it is genuinely appreciated.

Aaron

[David Hostetler]

Aaron, your problem isn't the grinder, but rather the wheels / bushings that go with those Norton wheels... I had the same trouble. I used some steel machine bushings instead of the stack of cheap plastic sloppy junk that Norton ships, and then trued up the wheel using Don Geigers "Geigers Dressing and Truing Solution" I think it was called... I now have negligible side to side runout (.001") and if I had to guess from the quality of things, that has to be in the wheel itself, not the grinder. Don's solution tool thingamabob isn't cheap, but is sure worked well! Maybe your wheels are round. Mine had a bump in it... No need for the Oneway system... I am running smooth as silk with a full speed Ryobi 8" grinder now... Couldn't be happier. And trust me, the issue isn't that the Ryobi is all that great. Again, it's the incredibly poor quality control with Norton...

[Ryan Baker]

Aaron, your problem isn't the grinder, but rather the wheels / bushings that go with those Norton wheels...

Nope, not true. I agree that the bushings are a problem, and replacing the bushings will work on many grinders (when combined with a good wheel dresser). However, for this particular grinder (and some others), the grinder itself is a very big part of the problem that can't be solved just with bushings. Plenty of us have tried and proved that. It just depends on the situation.

Glad to see you got it working, Aaron.