Surface grinder conversion contact wheel question

I am noting that wheel # for further investigation.

The best one I found for roughing is also a Norton.
5SG46-JVS

I don't believe I have ever used a 32A

You have a system that works for you and that's great, I would not have changed either with those results.

The belt is faster though, given your described rates, and less expensive in the long run.
I'm roughing .005 - .010"DOC at .100" cross feed.
I've done 100 knives or so on this one Blaze 60 grit, taking .020 -.050" off per knife.
I get 4 - 6 blades out of a $2 Hermes AO 320 or 400 grit belt.
So in the long run the belt edges ahead a bit.
I'm looking at $.50 per knife to your dollar. (I seem to remember high quality stones running $50 each)

I also never have to dress the stone, so I'm not cranking up and down all the time.

That would not have been enough to convince me to change though.

Time is what did it for me.

That .100" per whack compared to .015" is big.
I'm often doing 10 -15 blades per batch, so here, it makes a difference.

My fine, spark out pass is at .050"
 
Sounds like that works very well for you. I'm sure if I set up a belt, I would like it. Just hard to find the extra time. The final finish you get with a belt would be nice.

That Norton wheel is between $25-$30 if I remember right, it's been awhile since I last ordered.
 
I hear ya, with your results, I wouldn't change.

I got nowhere near that, so "they" convinced me.

Belts on a surface grinder are just wrong I tell ya.

Some of the guys I apprenticed under would slap me silly if they new what I did to this old Boyar-Shultz.

BTW, you don't get the same finish off of a belt on a surface grinder as you do with a belt on a platen.
A great finish, but not the same.

On the platen 1 piece of abrasive travels the whole length of the blade.
Not so on a wheel, that same piece of abrasive only contacts the steel at one point.
Many points along the blade, as the wheel rotates, and the part moves, but not continuously.

I know that you know this Don, I'm writing for some other folks that it might not occur to, and are reading this thread.
 
Yeah, I know about the finish. One thing I hear that helps, is striping the grit off the splice/tape joint. Gets rid of the bump, bump and cuts down on the ripple effect.
 
Oh, you absolutely must get rid of the high spot at the splice.

RJ Martin turned me on to some sponge backed 3M diamond pads.
I scrub all the abrasive off of the splice.

Blaze belts, I just run.
Structured abrasive, you can dress like a stone.
Finer belts, good scrubbing with the diamond.
 
I have a question, if one were to use 1" belts on a surface grinder. Is it best to have a 1" wide contact wheel, slightly wider than 1" or slightly narrower than 1"
CW
 
Chuck,
I started off with stone wheels for the first year after I got my grinder. When I finally switched to my belt set-up I just loved it. Before I invested in the switch , Mike Norris and Devin Thomas both gave me some great ideas. I went straight to a 1 x 6 serrated wheel that Bader got for me and in fact used their idler arm assembly from the B3 Grinder in my conversion.There's a picture of it on my website if you'd like to see it. Devin Thomas suggested using a solid aluminum wheel instead of a hard rubber one. A friend made one up for me that I haven't tried yet but in theory should work great. Somewhere I heard that small pieces of metal could get imbedded in the aluminum wheel and cause some finish problems. But, like I said, I haven't tried it yet. A steel wheel would probably eliminate the concern of that happening. My biggest issue with stones was the depth of cut. Don Hanson seems to have the process dialed in for the materials he uses but I'm not sure if that would traslate as well for grinding the stainless steels that I always use. I also tired of constantly dressing the wheel. See you in June.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I think that the biggest advantage is going to be able to put a 220-400 grit finish on the flats of a blade. This will cut down on hand sanding, especially since a lot of the knives that I have been building have had stainless blades.
 
Greetings.
Just to clarify... are you ripping down a 2" x 72" belt in half or ordering them?

Dennis

Great post cause I just purchased a brown and sharpe 618 micromaster surface grinder a couple weeks ago and still have it in storage.
 
Ripping down 2" belts Dennis. (USA Knifemaker sells a GREAT splitter)

And remember, even with Don's .005-.010" DOC, he's only cross feeding .015" per pass.

With a good fine pole magnet, you can do .100 cross feed per pass with a 60grit Blaze.

That the same steel removed with only 20% of the amount work .

Not a big deal until you spend a day in front of the machine like I often do...
 
Got me some 32a stones. Till I have time. To do a conversion. Thanks again for all the info. In one spot. This little guy fits in this spot like it was made for it.
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2011-04-12_14-03-12_758.jpg

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2011-04-12_16-41-30_604.jpg
 
Fellhoelter said:
And remember, even with Don's .005-.010" DOC, he's only cross feeding .015" per pass.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, at .010" DOC, my cross feed is close to .015", but usually a bit more. At .005 DOC, my cross feed is around .060" +/-. Depends on the finish I want, heavy cross feeds give me a coarser finish. Light cross feed and I can get something like a 220 finish, even though I using a 46 grit wheel. I never change, or use finer stones, learn a long time ago, that doesn't work for me.

Jeremy, nice old grinder and a very nice looking shop!
 
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