On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:41:36 -0700, rangerssuck wrote:
On Aug 10, 5:13*am, "Harold and Susan Vordos" wrote:
"Ignoramus13611" wrote in message
On 2009-08-08, Wes wrote:
Ignoramus13611 wrote:

Has anyone tried freehand grinding of lathe bits (those with inserts
and without). The use would be a diamond wheel that cuts on the side.
I tried it with simple bits and it seems to work well, but maybe I am
missing some finer points of grinding.

Generally diamond wheels at high speed and steel do not go together. *The
steel has an
affinity for carbon which is what a diamond wheel is. *Still, from
hanging out on the
Quorn groups and such, I see that people use diamond wheels on HSS.

Wes, I may be very seriously confused and misinformed. What I was
thinking about originally was carbide tipped lathe bits (with carbide
tips brazed on). When I grind those, the objective is to grind
carbide, but some steel gets ground, as well.

It's up to you to see that it doesn't. * Use an aluminum oxide wheel to
grind away the steel that will get ground. * Unless you use the tools for
extremely heavy cuts (unlikely), it's easiest to grind the steel at a
greater relief angle, so even if you touch steel when grinding the carbide,
very little is exposed to the diamond wheel. * *Do not seriously undercut
the carbide, otherwise you risk tool failure.

Do not grind steel with a diamond wheel that runs at high speed, regardless
of what foolish people tell you. *Norton did extensive testing back in the
50's in regards to diamond and steel. *They do not go together. *If they
did, all grinding manuals would suggest they be ground together with
diamond.

From what I remember of reading Norton's publication on the subject:
Yes, there is a noticeable degradation of the diamond, but only in
terms of production rates. What I mean is that if you have a wheel
that will last 10,000 hours grinding carbide, and it only lasts 1,000
hours grinding steel, that's not about to be a problem for a hobby (or
even small production) user.

I don't think I'd sweat it.

We have a diamond wheel in the shop where I sit (industrial fab etc.),
and if you get caught grinding anything anything but carbide on it, you'll
get summarily fired.

Cheers!
Rich