I need help deciding - CBN vs Oxide for sharpening HSS lathe tooling...?

[Mr Mike]

Hello all..

I am ready to start down the path of grinding my own HSS tooling, and would like to put together a Sharpening station to start learning. Now that I am ready to buy the equipment I would like to get some advice on what setup would be a good choice...

Im currently on the fence with CBN Vs plain ol grinding wheels, Please tell me what you guys think - Thanks in advance.

 

[mmcmdl]

Norton 32A-46 or 60 always did the trick . Aluminum oxide cheap wheels .

 

[mikey]

I don't use bench grinders to grind lathe tools anymore but if I did, I would go with CBN. Cleaner, no dressing, no risk of explosion and very, very long life.

 

[Mr Mike]

Norton 32A-46 or 60 always did the trick . Aluminum oxide cheap wheels .

Good old purple... fast and effective, I like sparks as much as the next guy

I don't use bench grinders to grind lathe tools anymore but if I did, I would go with CBN. Cleaner, no dressing, no risk of explosion and very, very long life.

OK.. ill bite, what do you use..?

 

[mikey]

I use a belt sander. Faster than a wheel, cooler than a wheel, changing grits takes seconds, no worry about vibration or balance issues, never needs dressing, no risk of exploding wheels and it creates a flat face that is simple to hone. It isn't that I cannot use a bench grinder; I used one exclusively for over 10 years and actually learned to grind lathe tools on a bench grinder so I'm pretty proficient at using one. However, I feel that for my personal use, a belt sander is a better and more efficient machine for this purpose.

With that said, I think that the vast majority of hobby guys in this country are still using a bench grinder for grinding lathe tools. I think the reason for this is the ready availability of bench grinders and because of the undeniable fact that it works. Besides, this is how it has been done for a very long time so there is no denying that it works.

Use what you think is best for you. If you search the threads on tool grinding on the forum, there is a lot of discussion that has gone on about belt vs bench grinders.

 

[Aukai]

I HAD AO wheels, dressing them sent S**T everywhere. Belt, then CBN for where the belt misses.

 

[Mr Mike]

I use a belt sander.

lol I thought you were going to say... Well... I use my CNC machine to just cut them silly.

Belt, then CBN for where the belt misses.

This makes total sense... Do you have the grinder with a belt on one side and the CBN wheel on the other...? you would love our old set up.. an expanding rubber wheel uses centrifugal force, when the wheel stops you can instantly change belts.

See I was originally thinking use a Stone to do the cut and a belt to clean it up... I didn't want to say anything and get laughed off the forums, at my old work we use pneumatic orbital sanders to clean up everything that comes off the plasma cutter....

Until recently I was in the dark about these CBN wheels, and kinda assumed they were allot of hype... thanks for your input..

 

[Aaron_W]

I've been using the AO wheels that came on the grinder. They work well, but my plan is to eventually replace them with CBN.

I like the idea of a belt grinder but it seems unless you spend $1000+ that is a project. Either DIY from scratch or modify an existing $300-500 machine to make it suitable. Mikey has an older Craftsman that he likes but that one seems to be a unicorn, and very hard to find in the wild.

 

[pontiac428]

I wouldn't prefer CBN for HSS at all. Too slow, too hot. Norton 32A (white) for general work and 32AA (purple) for cool, heavy removal. I do use CBN for carbide, though.

 

[benmychree]

I use a belt sander. Faster than a wheel, cooler than a wheel, changing grits takes seconds, no worry about vibration or balance issues, never needs dressing, no risk of exploding wheels and it creates a flat face that is simple to hone. It isn't that I cannot use a bench grinder; I used one exclusively for over 10 years and actually learned to grind lathe tools on a bench grinder so I'm pretty proficient at using one. However, I feel that for my personal use, a belt sander is a better and more efficient machine for this purpose.

With that said, I think that the vast majority of hobby guys in this country are still using a bench grinder for grinding lathe tools. I think the reason for this is the ready availability of bench grinders and because of the undeniable fact that it works. Besides, this is how it has been done for a very long time so there is no denying that it works.

Use what you think is best for you. If you search the threads on tool grinding on the forum, there is a lot of discussion that has gone on about belt vs bench grinders.

Have you ever had a wheel explode? In over 50 years in the trade, I never have, if you don't count accidents running into parts on the surface grinder, there, it was not so much explode as break.