Looking for replacement grinding wheels over stock grey wheels

[DMS]

One other thing I might add, be carefully with coarse white wheels and woodworking tools. 36 cuts way too fast on them, and you are likely to remove half the tool before you know it (wonder how I found that out...). Might want to get a 36 for shaping HSS cutters, and a 100 for finish/sharpening.

 

[AlbertNakaji]

Actually you want something pretty soft for the harder materials so it sheds and keeps presenting fresh abrasive to the material. If you are going to stay in the 6" wheels you may want to look around a K or J hardness. Slower the surface speed the softer the wheel acts. The problem with the stock wheels is they are too hard for hard material. They work fine on milder material like mower blades and bolts, but on HSS and harder they hold the abrasives until they get dull and you have to dress the wheel .

Yes, I did not intend to imply that HSS/tool steel should be ground on hard wheels. Less open than wheels used for aluminum, but relatively soft on the scale of wheel hardness. It's precisely as explained, the wheel must shed off the abrasive to continue to present new abrasive to cut the metal. Stock wheels are waayyyy to hard. There is absolutely no question about that. They're sold that way so that customers don't complain about the wheel wearing away so fast (and then think, "cheap wheel, junk product"). My wheels are about K, J and wear quite fast. For junks, like rebar, I use the stock wheel. For sharpening, they're about 60 or 80 grit, as I don't often need to grind away much for sharpening.

 

[Rbeckett]

Hi, I have been using the stock 6" wheels on my porter cable VS grinder until now, and am looking to upgrade those for something that runs cooler and keeps it's cutting surface fresher for a longer time (these stock wheels gets glazed and stop cutting real quick and start burning the cutting toolings I'm forming).

I've looked at the Norton White aluminum oxide wheels which run at ~$25 in local stores although found them also for half price online.

I've also seen the ones at enco (tru-maxx) at $9 per wheel.

my stock wheels are 36x and 60x.

my questions to you folks are:

1. have you had experience with the enco wheels? are they good? better than stock wheels? compared to the notron white wheels?
2. are the white wheels really better?
3. Should I look for 36x and 60x replacements? or should I look at 60x and 100x instead?
4. What do you have running on your grinder?

Hoping this thread could help others as well for future reference.

Thanks in advance.

I switched over to the pink wheels. They are even good for cutting carbide and tungstens. They are a buck or two more but dont glaze and definately keep a sharp grit showing all the time. We used them to primarily sharpen carbide demo saw teeth and carbide stump grinder teeth with great success. We also used them to dress and contour lathe bits and custom shaper bits in a molding cutter we fabbed for a local company. Love em, never had one blow up or crack either.
Bob

 

[PurpLev]

Thanks for all the responses, some good info here!

One other thing I might add, be carefully with coarse white wheels and woodworking tools. 36 cuts way too fast on them, and you are likely to remove half the tool before you know it (wonder how I found that out...). Might want to get a 36 for shaping HSS cutters, and a 100 for finish/sharpening.

agreed! I use slow wet grinding for setting bevels on those, but use the high speed for quickly clean up chipped blades (usually when restoring an old tool to usable condition) - doing 1 or 2 quick passes on it to generate a square and even edge that I then take to the wet grinder to set the bevel on

I switched over to the pink wheels. They are even good for cutting carbide and tungstens. They are a buck or two more but dont glaze and definately keep a sharp grit showing all the time. We used them to primarily sharpen carbide demo saw teeth and carbide stump grinder teeth with great success. We also used them to dress and contour lathe bits and custom shaper bits in a molding cutter we fabbed for a local company. Love em, never had one blow up or crack either.
Bob

Could you please post a link showing which wheel you are referring to? is this the norton pink wheel? other?

 

[Chucketn]

I am following this thread closely. I have a Black and Decker 6" with the grey wheels. I want to know should I change the wheels on that grinder and carry on or would I be ahead to get a second grinder for white or pink wheels?
How much trouble is it to change back and forth? Would I have to true up the wheels each time I changed?

Chuck

 

[swatson144]

I am following this thread closely. I have a Black and Decker 6" with the grey wheels. I want to know should I change the wheels on that grinder and carry on or would I be ahead to get a second grinder for white or pink wheels?
How much trouble is it to change back and forth? Would I have to true up the wheels each time I changed?

Chuck

It depends on how much grinding you do. If you don't grind anything but HSS then switch it over for HSS. I have 3 grinders right now 2 6" and 1 8" because I hate changing wheels. You might get by with just putting a good wheel on one side of your grinder.

Steve

 

[jocat54]

I replaced one side of mine with a Norton white (100 grit I think) and it cuts much faster than the old grey ones. I do have to dress it pretty often though. It seems to glaze over pretty fast.

 

[Rbeckett]

Purple,
Yes it is the Norton pink wheels. They come in all sizes and shapes from 1/8X3 to 4X8. I will look for a link to a generic one.
Bob

 

[xalky]

I also saw some norton blue wheels. Anybody using those?.
I'm finding this thread to be very informative. Some more good links for the different wheels would be great.

 

[Dave Smith]

Sharon I like a white wheel on one arbor and a diamond wheel on the other arbor--the white grinds nice and the diamond is good for your carbide tipped tools. the white wheels do wear a little quicker but I like them. when they need replacing I use the old ones to clean the diamond stone surface. Dave