Glass Filled Nylon vs Aluminum belt grinder wheels?

[Derek K]

Looking to buy wheels for a 2 x 72 and came across ones on ebay by "oregonblademaker" he says the nylons outlast aluminum and they're cheaper. Which ones should I get?

 

[knarfeng]

Looking to buy wheels for a 2 x 72 and came across ones on ebay by "oregonblademaker" he says the nylons outlast aluminum and they're cheaper. Which ones should I get?

General forum is for questions about knives, not anything under the sun. Moving this to the knifemaker section.

 

[aareeyesee]

I'm just a hobby maker but I got the red obm nylons and they've been working fine for 18 months.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I feel aluminum can be machined to more precise dimensions.
That said, on a grinder, I doubt that will make much difference. The bearings are what is important.
I have only used aluminum and rubber coated aluminum wheels, so I don't know. I have read that the nylon wheels work just fine.

 

[Derek K]

I feel aluminum can be machined to more precise dimensions.
That said, on a grinder, I doubt that will make much difference. The bearings are what is important.
I have only used aluminum and rubber coated aluminum wheels, so I don't know. I have read that the nylon wheels work just fine.

this is probably a pretty stupid question but whats the difference between putting the work piece and pressure on a regular aluminum wheel vs a rubber wheel

 

[polish avenger]

As a rule, I do not use nylon OR aluminum wheels as backing for grinding. Rubber covered aluminum or steel, I feel are better suited for the purpose. My 2 cents.
One of my grinders runs a nylon drive wheel from Origin and I use a slack belt attachment with nylon wheels....works fine for both so far.

 

[Taz]

I use a 6" OBM as a drive wheel, the red plastic one and a 2" red rubber one on my combo platen without any issues. I wouldn't grind on plastic or aluminum wheels.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Yes, to be clear, aluminum or nylon wheels are for idler wheels, tracking wheels, and drive wheels ... not for contact wheels.

IIRC, Burr King uses plastic/nylon/poly idler wheels. I also think the old Wilton grinders did, too.

 

[JV Knives]

For non contact wheels, the important characteristic is to maintain the crown or flatness of the wheel in relation to the belt surface which rides over it. In time, all surfaces will be abraded by the belt flowing over them. Unless the durometer of the rubber/composite material is such that it wears slower than aluminum, I would pick the aluminum.

As Stacy said, contact wheels are a totally different game as the function changes to holding the desired form when being pressed against with steel.

 

[JoeBusic]

Get the nylons. Rarely manufacturers make HT'ed and anodized Al wheels. Usually it's just the cheapest low end Al and if the wheel setup is not ideal, the belt will abrade it. Nylon is not better, but they are cheaper. If one has a top notch grinder and all is square, paired with high end wheels, this question is mute.
My grinder is crap and after 2 Al wheelset, I printed mine in PA6CH and they seem to last longer than cheap Al.