Grinding HSS

[Christianstark]

Hi all. So a little bit of a spin on this question. I have a bench grinder. An 8” variable speed Jet from Lowes. It’s not great, but it’s what I got for now. It came with the basic wheels, a coarse and a medium, and they are horribly balanced, and shakes a good bit.

Question 1 - can I grind HSS blanks with what I have now?

Question 2 - If new wheels are suggested, what would you suggest? Links would help.

 

[jwmelvin]

Sure, it’ll work. Use the coarse wheel. It may take a while if you’re working with a raw HSS blank (as opposed to reshaping or sharpening an existing one). Have a container of water at hand to cool the bit as you go.

Have you dressed the wheel? Sometimes the vibration is due to nonconcentricity more than balance. The diamond-grit T-shaped dressers seem to work okay for establishing the OD as long as you have a decent work rest.

 

[Norseman C.B.]

+1 on dressing the wheel, makes a helluva difference on the vibes, making yer own side plates and center bushing
does wonders also as the originals are seldom close to common specs.............................

 

[talvare]

I would recommend one of these wheels probably in the 60 grit: https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Norton-White-Grinding-Wheel-P38.aspx

Ted

 

[francist]

I used my bench grinder with the stock wheels to sharpen all my HSS lathe bits for five years or more. It was slow but the T-style dresser mentioned above helped. When it finally got worn down to a point I could justify a new wheel I went with one of these. Holy moly, night and day and the grinding time is reduced by easily half if not more. But the standard grey one did work so if that’s all you got for while it’ll still get you there.

-frank

 

[markba633csi]

If it's a cheap grinder you may find it has flimsy rests. Consider beefing them up by adding metal or even making new ones.
If they mount to the stamped wheel covers it will never be really solid no matter what you do
Norton wheels are a good brand
-Mark

 

[MikeWi]

I was frankly amazed when I changed from the standard grey wheel to a white one. What a difference! Virtually no heat transfer either.

 

[Christianstark]

OK so I was mistaken.

It is a Delta 6" Grinder.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DELTA-Delta-6-in-Bench-Grinder/50150070

 

[ErichKeane]

OK so I was mistaken.

It is a Delta 6" Grinder.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DELTA-Delta-6-in-Bench-Grinder/50150070

Thats a decent grinder, it at least has usable tool rests, bolted to something substantial looking. The ones on my HF 8" grinder are just folded sheet metal garbage bolted to garbagey-er sheet metal.

 

[yendor]

You can also try loosening the wheel and rotating it in 90 deg intervals on the shaft until you find a sweet spot where it has Less vibration/out of balance.