Idler Wheel vs Contact Wheel

D

Don Nguyen

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Oct 4, 2011
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This is probably absurdly obvious.

What are the differences between contact wheels and idler wheels? Could I not just use one as the other, vice versa? What would be the reasons why I wouldn't want to do either?

Lets say I want to cheap out and not want to get any contact wheels, but use the idler wheels from time to time do do some inner-radius profiling? Or if I wanted a platen set-up with one contact wheel and one idler; would it be bad if the contact wheel wasn't used most of the time and was used just as an idler?

Thanks.

-Don
 
Idler wheels are generally all metal and some are domed. Contact wheels have robber/polly exterior sou you can use it in contact with the blade.
 
Don, I was thinking along similar lines to your platen setup when I ordered my Pheer. I've got it coming with the top wheel on the platen assembly a 2" rubber contact wheel and the bottom one of the cheap poly wheels, probably one of the longboard style ones, I didn't ask, so maybe it's a poly contact wheel but I didn't ask and don't care other than as a back up for the rubber one if I damaged it. A standard idler is too hard and you'll get lots of skipping and hopping along with the fact that the grind will have that slight contour from the wheel. The contact wheels are firm but have enough give to be used that way without issue.

As for using one as an idler, it depends on your tracking situation really. I haven't messed with that kind of thing enough to be 100% sure but I am going to find out soon on mine. If I have to I'll swap it out for a traditional idler and build another arm for the contact wheel setup, along with a small wheel arm, but I am hoping to avoid that for the 2".
 
tryppyr said:
Idler wheels are generally all metal and some are domed. Contact wheels have robber/polly exterior sou you can use it in contact with the blade.
Click to expand...

I agree. Idler wheels are sometimes made from aluminum, (e.g. KMG), and continued grinding against them (due to belt-bump) will have you replacing them in short order.

Contact wheels, on the other hand, will tend to last much longer when doing radius work. You still have "belt-bump" to contend with (which tends to divot your nice rounded radius), but with practice, you can overcome these problems.

Robert
 
Thanks everyone.

So then as far as using a contact wheel in place as an idler, would tracking be the only issue, or would I have to worry about wear etc?

Or really, am I just being too cheap here, and should really just get a set-up for the contact wheel instead of cutting corners?
 
I did both... I got the small (2") contact wheel on the bottom and an idler on the top. To me that seems like a happy medium.
 
Just to clarify, the definition of an "idler" is a wheel or roller that's not directly powered; it just spins because the belt or web is riding on it.

A dedicated contact wheel is, naturally, designed to hold up under direct contact (grinding pressure). It may or may not be an idler; in fact, most contact wheels are idlers.
 
Thanks James. I kept getting the impression that they were very different things, and that if I didn't use a contact wheel for, well, contact, it'd deteriorate or something.
 
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