The Home Machinist!

It does almost like something staining the wheel. But of course all the most useful information is obscured by the hub, and searching on what is visible proved unproductive. I guess it's not the end of the world to dismount, but I just dressed it, and I'm prone to making Lincoln squeal, so it offends my sensibilities to pull it down now.

All in good time. When you do dismount the wheel, post what you learn. I read all posts, so I won't miss your words, and I'm not in a hurry. My surface grinder is not operational right now, anyway.

H

Wlw, didn't know a grinding wheel could get the measles!

Yeah, real strange. I can't help but think it's something they do to the wheel so it is readily identified as being different from the conventional aluminum oxide types.

H

Makes sense, yet neither of us knows that wheel. I never even heard about a "Gel Wheel" until Russ posted.
Okay. You're ahead of me.

After talking to a machinist friend that I've worked with for almost 40 years, who's done a lot more grinding than I have, has never balanced a wheel and who thinks there's a good chance I'm out of my mind, I've changed the intro and justification a bit. Be sure to hit your refresh button if you read it again.

I have one that is in need of balancing and I am not out of My mind. He has just not run in to it yet. Maybe the Manufacturer forgot to balance this one.

Sorry, but your machinist friend is wrong. While most wheels will run without issue, that's just not true of all wheels. Some run just fine out of the box, while others don't, some of them so bad they can't be used. Fact is, surface finish will suffer immeasurably with wheels that don't run balanced, and you are likely to struggle with size (those two features go hand in hand, and the tighter the tolerance, the more critical it becomes).

The problem with this is we have no idea to what his experience relates. Not to imply he isn't qualified, but a guy working in a shop that turns manhole covers and isn't the least bit familiar with tight tolerance and high expectations may well think it's nonsense, but the harsh reality is almost everything you can think of can lessen the quality of a grind. A single phase motor is a good example, as is a less than great running belt.

It is my opinion that you are performing at a level that is to be admired. Certainly not criticized. I've never regretted doing a job "too well", but have a few regrets for having glossed over a project.

H

I've got a pretty expensive SG wheel that refuses to work. It made the machine vibrate when I first tried it so I balanced it, and it still leaves a choppy finish.

I finally gave up on it and will use it if I need a roughing wheel.

That sounds like my SG wheel! The only saving grace is that somebody else paid for it for a specific job. Once I balanced it and redressed, and you have to make sure to get it fully dressed, it worked well. IMO, not any better than my white wheels, but I don't do long run production grinding, which seems to be what the SG wheels are for. I think mine was an 80 grit, which means it's dense and can easily have bad balance. Once you got it balanced, was there any vibration detectable on the machine?

As for my machinist friend, he comes from the same environment I do, close tolerance lab and scientific stuff. All of it was fussy on cosmetics too. I'm pretty sure he spent many hours to achieve finishes that would have been way easier with a balanced system.

I gave up on it and used a different wheel.

I balanced and re-dressed, then balanced and re-dressed again (as re-dressing after balance can alter the balance) and it still left a choppy finish as if it was out of balance.

I don't recall if I could still feel any vibration though. It was a 3/4" wide wheel which I normally wouldn't use anyway, but needed the extra width. It was intended to be used to grind my chuck as the chuck is slightly wider than the Z travel on the machine.

SG wheels are not recommended for finish work in the first place, as they like to work hard. The Norton's SG's I have do leave a nice finish though.