anybody cast their own grinder wheels?

K

Kindyr

Joined
Dec 5, 2007
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I am in the process of assembling parts for a knife grinder as one of many projects currently fighting for priority. another project is working with a friend to set up a good size aluminum casting foundry. in talking over it's uses I hit upon casting up a blank for a grinder wheel, which would then be turned and trued up on a lathe(which he has and will let me use)

Most of the lathe wheels I've seen have been aluminum based, so it seems very possible to use aluminum. Has anybody cast their own wheel?

Pros? Cons? things you would have done differantly?

I know I can buy wheels, but part of the fun is seeing how much we can do ourselves.
 
There was a thread a long time back by an Australian who did it. If you know what you are doing you could cast one. But, It would be cheaper and more efficient to get a Grizzly 8" or 10" wheel and set it up on a shaft as some do or bore it for bearings as I and others have done. Even if you cast one you would need to do some machine work.
 
He could be talking about drive and tracking wheels you guys :)

Yup, you can do it, but make sure you have a lathe handy to clean up your castings afterwards. Also, porosity will be your enemy in a big way, you want your pulleys to be as balanced as possible. That's really the hard bit from where I sit...

-d
 
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