water cooled platen

I suppose there are probably some grinding techniques where having an ice cold platen would probably reduce heat on the blade. But as a rule, the chiller is to keep the platen from overheating which is a problem when grinding with a rubber belt over the platen or grinding over a shaped platen.

We use them in production here all the time, but they are not enough to negate heat issues on a blade by themselves in normal grinding.
 
On a side note,
A friend just gifted me several dozen 120 grit Metalite belts. They look to be around 2"X120" belts. I might make a special arm with a 24" long dropped platen and use them for full wet grinding. Something like a Billy-roll with a long vertical platen. Should be simple to build from an old C-platen arm. It would be great for flattening and distal taper on long blades. Probably good to grind Ti on as well.

Many years ago, I bought a big glass grinder at auction from a plate glass store that closed. I paid $50. It took four guys and a truck to get it home. It used 3" wide belts that were 132" long, running full wet. It had a large horizontal table for the sheets of glass and the belt ran vertical. I planned on tearing it apart and making a wet grinder for knives. I ended up selling it to a fellow who did stained glass.
 
An update on the mister - The tubing came in today so I was able to hook it all up and grind a blade. WOW! What a difference. Not near the mess I expected before this thread. With air pressure running in the 60 to 70 psi range and just barely enough water to feel - it sure is cold. I was grinding a tiny needle point type paring knife, .040" AEB-L at 61 Rc and it really works. I was able to get a small bit of blade up at tip to turn brown - very light brown but I knew I was pushing it with dipping blade in water bucket between passes on grinder. Just back 'n forth on same side around 4,000 SFPM belt speed (60 grit ceramic) and I was impressed how much it took to get any color on tip/edge of blade.

No, that's not how I'll be grinding - just pushing to see where the limits were. Like so many new tricks the feeling is "why did it take me so long"?

Thanks to all for help and guidance -

Ken H>
 
I told you it would change your life.
Raise the air pressure to 90-100 and it can get cold enough to numb your fingers. At that pressure you can adjust the water valve to a very cold almost-dry mist or keep it wet.
 
I bought my mister a year and a half ago, and it’s still sitting in a drawer because I didn’t wanna deal with a mess. This thread changes things, lol
Thanks much!
 
DanF said:
I bought my mister a year and a half ago, and it’s still sitting in a drawer because I didn’t wanna deal with a mess. This thread changes things, lol
Thanks much!
Click to expand...
It really wasn't as much mess as I expected and it does make a huge difference.
 
An update to this thread. Remember I purchased the mister system based on advice from this forum - still think it was a good move. BUT, I was missing a very important part of it - the footswitch. Take a look at this video about the 2 minute mark to see the footswitch. He's got a link to Amazon for the footswitch - seems like it was around $17 shipped, and worth every penny.
 
I really need to get one of these systems set up! Need to get a compressor and do some cleaning/re arranging of some of my garage first.
 
Yes, a foot pedal to start and stop the air flow (and thus the spray) is a really good idea. You can get cheap ones on Amazon.
 
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