"ATP*" wrote in message
...

"Harold and Susan Vordos" wrote in message
...

"jtaylor" wrote in message
...
A local place has these on sale; I could easily mount it on the
grinder.

This for small bits - 7x10 lathe.

The problem with using that type wheel is the limited surface available
for
doing your grinding, and is likely to yield poor results under normal
circumstances. The typical diamond wheel that's applied for
sharpening
carbide lathe tools has the diamond on the side, in a broad area,
usually
about 3/4" wide.

Pay attention to the caution already offered on grinding steel. Diamond
is
destroyed by steel when applied at high speed----it actually is
dissolved
into the steel, cutting its useful life very short by dulling it until
it
doesn't cut well. Relieving it on an aluminum oxide wheel at a
greater
angle is the typical method of avoiding contact with a diamond wheel.
Using
a green wheel presents the same problems that diamond does---it, too, is
soluble in steel. It's silicon carbide.

So you can't grind HSS on a green wheel?

Not with great success. The green wheel will break down very rapidly due to
dulling of the abrasive by dissolution. Being softly bonded, it readily
sloughs off to expose new bits of abrasive, which, in turn, dull quickly.
By contrast, you can use an aluminum oxide wheel that is softer, but bonded
much harder, and grind without any loss of wheel because the aluminum oxide
doesn't dissolve into the steel. It stays sharp much longer, so it has no
need to slough off, thus a harder bonded wheel. That's the reason tool and
cutter grinder wheels (where cutting tools are made from HSS) are made from
aluminum oxide instead of silicon carbide.

It pays to match the grinding media to the work at hand. You not only get a
better quality job, but the wheels hold up much better and work faster.

Harold