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Thread: Cleaning CBN wheels

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Quorn United Kingdom
    Posts
    773

    Cleaning CBN wheels

    I have seen the following items recommended for cleaning CBN wheels

    (1) Anything you like

    http://d-waytools.com/cbn-grinding-wheels

    (2) Trend tool cleaner

    http://www.cindydrozda.com/html/CBN.html

    (3) Aluminium oxide stick

    https://www.axminster.co.uk/cleaning...ne-400g-104143

    (4)Trend lapping fluid , wd40, pencil eraser rubber

    thoughts advice comments please

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Northeast Georgia
    Posts
    834
    When I was researching mine I read they probably don’t need cleaning. I’ve only had mine for about 9 months though.

  3. #3
    This still comes up.... Two things can clog up your wheels. One is soft metals, which is a pretty easy fix, you just sharpen a scraper on the wheel, and it will peel most of the 'loaded' metal off of the wheel. I intentionally loaded up an old wheel with aluminum, brass, copper, and soft steel just to see what happens, and I loaded it up pretty heavy. It took a week or two to get about 90% of it off, and it was invisible after a month or less, but can't remember...

    The other stuff that gets loaded onto your wheel is the sludge from turning sloppy wet wood, and my wheels were almost black from being in the line of fire from the spray from my wet wood. They still cut fine. Two ways to clean that off. One is a soap of some sort, and it can be anything from oven cleaner, to Ajax or Comet, to dish soap. Let it soak for an hour or two, then use a scrub brush. The other alternative would be to use the lapping fluid or pretty much any light oil. I apply it to the bevel of the tools on a fairly regular basis. I dip a pipe cleaner into the lapping fluid, then brush the bevel. If you apply direct to the wheel and spread with your finger, you will get a racing stripe on your smock and glasses..... This does penetrate beyond the sludge and lifts a lot of it off, kind of like when you are cutting away loaded soft metals, but it goes deeper than a scraper will. The wheel never gets back to 'new' as the CBN breaks in, but it still cuts very well.

    The aluminum oxide sticks are a head scratcher for me... My first CBN wheels were a mix of CBN and a bonding agent, and that was bonded in a 3/16 inch thick layer to an aluminum hub. This stuff would load up and the matrix would wear down. It is a very hard aluminum oxide, and it would scratch the surface of the wheel, pretty much cleaning it off, and was the same material the shop that made the wheels, used to true up the wheels after they were made. I did not experiment with using lapping fluid on them and then trying the stick. Cindy Drozda did have a video up, since removed, with the old wheel from Woodcraft, that was a diamond mix similar to the CBN wheels I had. We both retired our bonded wheels for the electroplated wheels as soon as they came out. Much better. I guess the sticks would clean off surface stuff, but it is not some thing I would buy. It won't hurt the wheels.

    The only thing I have found that really damages the wheels is if you try to sharpen carbide on them. They will take carbide down, but it does wear the CBN down as the carbide seems to be a tiny bit harder than the CBN.

    Dave Schweitzer did tell me that the wheels do pretty much last forever, and if you wash the sludge off of them they are as good as any broken in CBN wheel. The ones that I sharpened some carbide cutters (old experiment with trying to retip some McNaughton coring blades that did not work...) leave a very polished surface, more shiny than a 1000 grit CBN wheel leaves, but the edge does not seem to cut. These wheels are retired forever now...

    robo hippy

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Quorn United Kingdom
    Posts
    773
    Reed thank you for your post

    I will try to find more information about the rational of the aluminium oxide stick and report back

    My initial thoughts were if you have been turning green/wet timber or there is any pitch visible on the tool ideally to wipe the tool before sharpening

    Then additionally periodically clean the wheel as you describe or clean in a similar manner to methods used for router cutters

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