Al A. wrote:

Hi All,
OK, I've read enough of Harold's posts that I have decided it is time
to upgrade my grinding capabilities. I presently have a fairly old and
not super great tiawaneese 6" bench grinder with the original crappy
wheels. I would like to at least make this passable for general use
until I get my KO Lee T&C grinder together. Even then, I still need a
bench grinder, for , well, bench grinder stuff, you all know. So to that
end, I am planning to make some good flanges, replace both of the
wheels, banish my (Harold, close your eyes till this next line
passes...)star wheel dresser, and get a diamond dresser.

(Harold can open is eyes now) I was perusing a few catalogs looking at
single point hand diamond dressers. At least I think that is what I
want.Please correct me if I am wrong. Anyhow I was looking at ones
similar to this:

http://www.wttool.com/c/53600050p

The thing I noticed, was that these come in various carat sizes, 1/4,
1/2,3/4,1, etc. Why is that? What would determine which one I would want
or need?

Second question is, for general shop stuff, HSS tool grinding, tweaking
the ends of screwdrivers, etc., what is a decent compromise for wheels?
I am not snagging castings or grinding welds and such. I have to admit
to being a bit confused by the bewildering number of choices of grits,
compositions and bonds. I understand that there is a "tool" for every
job, but a bit of general guidance would make me feel a bit less dumb.

You might design your wheel flanges so they incorporate a thick (1/4") washer
drilled all around the edge with holes, and a secondary washer which half covers
the holes. That way you can put weights in the holes to balance the
armature/shaft/wheel assembly.

I also have heard Harold's views on star dressers, but they do a great job of
deglazing bench grinder wheels. I don't know about handheld diamond dressers,
what's the point? Why not just get a Norbide dressing stone and be done with it?
They cost like $5 and if you wear one out in a lifetime I'd be amazed.

The thing about grinding wheels is: for harder materials use softer wheels, for
softer materials use harder wheels; keep your wheel balanced, trued and dressed,
and understand the metallurgy behind grinding and heat treating. I tend to buy
wheels that do a good job on HSS, and live with the results on softer materials.

GWE