Re: woodcraft slow-speed grinder wheel wobble

I just bought the woodcraft 8" slow speed grinder. I am disappointed, however in the vibraton and weel wobble.

When I turn the rotate the course wheel 360 the edge of the wheel moves back and forth by just about 1/16 of an inch. The fine wheel has wobble of a little more than a 1/32. Those 8-in wheels are heary and of course that resuts in a fair amount vibration.

I removed both wheels and the grinder runs vibration-free for the most part. I cant detect and any runout, and the low and high (left/right) spots occur at the same spot on the wheel, even if I re-orient the wheel of the shaft. based on this, I'm pretty sure it is the wheel and not a bent shaft.

Although I have not attempted dress the wheels, the seem pretty round, that is a tool dies not bounce on the surface of the wheel.

What is a reasonable expectation of wobble? Vibration?

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This is solution is probably effective, but fairly pricey.

The white wheels were slightly smudged with dirt, as if they were installed by someone with dirty hands. I would think that would not normally happen at a factory. Not that I care about the smudges, but it seems as though it might be evidence that this was a lemon unit that someone tried to tune up and returned.

I inclined to ask Woodcraft to send me new wheels. Should I try dressing the wheels first?

Thanks,

Steve

Reply to
C & S
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You just bought it, right? Why would you not just contact Woodcraft for a replacement rather than this post? You've done a pretty good job of identifying the problem, so why not just make that phone call and relay the same information to Woodcraft? My bet is they'll have you fixed right up with new wheels in less time than it took to type your post.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

I've got the same unit. It runs true and has minimal vibration. have them send you a replacement. why mess around with the wheels? they may not take to kindly to you working the wheels over and THEN asking for an exchange.

Dave

Reply to
David

I thought that my Woodcraft slow speed grinder ran smooth until I got a Baldor slow speed grinder. There is always some wobble in the wheels. Ir you want to get fancy, you can get a wheel balancing kit from Veritas. The other alternative is to dress the wheen yourself. You have to have a good steady rest for the dressing wheel, and learn to ease the dresser into the wheel. It will skip at first, unless the wheel is perfectly round. Ease the dresser in until it stops skipping, then the wheel will be round. If the wheel isn't round, and you just push the dresser in, it will ride the bumps and uneven spots, and the wheel will stay uneven. This can also be done to the side of the wheel. I did get some CBN wheels (cubic boric nitride) which are custom made by bonding

3/16 inch of grinding material onto a aluminum wheel. It comes spin balanced. Over the time that I have had it, it has developed some bumps. I take it back to the guy that made it, and they trued it up for me. I do a LOT of turning, and use it for my turning tools. These wheels will outlast the standard wheels about 10 to 1, but an 8 by 1 inch wheel runs about $300. robo hippy
Reply to
robo hippy

I must have been lucky then (I gotta get lucky some time!), because the wheels on my run dead true. Wish I could be as lucky with my Delta equipment. Maybe we better not go there; I'll start whining.

Dave

Reply to
David

I contacted woodcraft. Initially, they acknowledged that the stamped steel arbor washers were probably the culprit. They suggested that I try reorienting the washers.

After about 35 minutes of minimal sucess with various permutations of orientation of the wheel outer washer and inner washer I gave up. They are sending me a whole new unit. It should be here in a few days.

-Steve

Reply to
C & S

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