At 08:24 AM 7/10/2004 -0700, Roger Gibbs wrote:
>For HSS I noticed a big difference between generic wheels (old American or
>new import) and Norton wheels designed for tools steel. A really big
>difference in price too (maybe $25 for a wheel ?). Years ago I bought a
>pink color Norton wheel (from MSC as I recall). It is supposedly more
>friable and will wear faster, but at the rate that I am sharpening things
>it will last a lifetime in my home shop.
>
>That looks like a nice grinder, I was considering making an adjustable
>tool stand but maybe this is a better approach.
Thanks all for the input. I have already checked the WT Tools, Enco and
Swift Tool catalogs; about the only selections available in a steel plate
backed wheel are diamond, green silicon carbide (both for carbide) and
gray aluminum oxide (for steel). The green wheels run about $26 each, the
gray is about $75, and the diamond wheels START at around a hundred bucks.
I saw the Norton (and other) white, pink and blue wheels for HSS, too. I
have been using white wheels for some time for rough sharpening of plane
irons and chisels, and they work very well and are very slow to heat up. I
have always gotten my white wheels free from my local saw sharpener; they
are 5 1/2" cup wheels, and when the cup is worn off the side he discards
them. I stack two of them together and put them on the grinder arbor with
an adapter and they work very well. I might try one of the blue wheels;
they are very reasonably priced.
As for the HF tool grinder, I still don't know what I will eventually do;
maybe just set it up with a fine and coarse green wheel and use it for
carbide only, and grind the HSS stuff on the bench grinder.
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