Tungsten grinder

It's easy to make one, just remember to mark that wheel "Tungsten Only".

No contamination allowed.
 
I use my chop saw's wheel right up next to the hub where it never touches anything. I simply chuck the tungsten in a drill motor and let it spin. I should mention do not use much side force are you will break the tungsten and I try to get the grind marks to run parallel to the rod. It takes a little practice but you can put a really fine point on it, or you could use some Chem Sharp and some people even claim success with a torch and a cup of water, and heat the tungsten then quick cool it with pieces chipping off.
 
Thank You for the replies, I am wondering if anyone has a dedicated, built as a tungsten grinder grinder.
 
I had an old 5" bench grinder laying around, so I dressed the wheel and use it only for tungstens.
 
I just purchased a Harbor Freight 3" grinder for $34.00 to be used as a dedicated tungsten grinder, works great.
 
I wish they weren't so expensive but no, I don't have/use a proper tungsten grinder. I think it's probably most important when using thoriated to control the dust. Otherwise speaking, the results from a wheel grinder are totally acceptable unless you use ceriated rod which, is so crappy, it doesn't hold a point regardless of how little current you're passing. I'm using lanthalated now and like it a lot.

Also, I always used to do a quick dressing on the wheel to remove contaminants but, when things got busy, that fell to the wayside. In all honesty, I never noticed a difference whatsoever. In my experience, the issue about contamination seems mainly to be with aluminum. The weld piece surfaces need to be really clean to get a pretty weld. I've inadvertently welded AL immediately after welding steel using the same tip -and even that made no difference.
 
I bought a thin lapidary diamond coated disc off eBay and just mounted it outboard on the same shaft as the grinding wheel. Sometimes I chuck the tungsten in the battery powered drill and other times I just twirl it in my fingers. All depends if the drill is handy and not being used for something else. Being a hack, self taught welder I need all the help I can get some days. Not that I notice any difference though.
 
DaveD said:
I bought a thin lapidary diamond coated disc off eBay and just mounted it outboard on the same shaft as the grinding wheel. Sometimes I chuck the tungsten in the battery powered drill and other times I just twirl it in my fingers. All depends if the drill is handy and not being used for something else. Being a hack, self taught welder I need all the help I can get some days. Not that I notice any difference though.
Click to expand...

I use an dedicated extra bench grinder.
Instead of a drill, I spin the the tungsten in an extra TIG collet when grinding. Never a flat spot.
 
I bought a cheap HFT 6" bench grinder and outfitted one side with a pair of aluminum disks faced with diamond abrasive (200 and 600 grits) that I bought off ebay (I think they're called "cabbing wheels" and are used for flattening/polishing stones). Whole rig ended up costing less than $100, I think, and it works great. If you go that route, look for vendor "rocklady" on ebay.

I just spin the tungsten in my fingers. Don't need NASA accuracy in grinding, given my poor TIG skills.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top