Baldor carbide grinder-What wheels do I buy?

I want to buy a Baldor carbide grinder. All I need to sharpen is HSS and cemented carbide lathe bits and I guess I would use this to sharpen drill bits also? I doesn't come with wheels so I need to decide which ones to get. (I'm a newbie.) Aluminum oxide? Silicon carbide? I assume I don't need diamond? Thanks

AlOx for HSS, diamond for carbide. I think some try to sharpen carbide with the green Si wheels but it's not the best.

I guess you could do drills freehand on it but the results (at least in my hands) would be less that optimum. That's why I got a Black Diamond drill grinder.

Lots of info here if you search for it:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/search.php?searchid=13573325

I highly recommend the Baldor , as opposed to the clones. There is a huge difference in balance and quality. Aluminum oxide is best for HSS. Be sure to get the diamond wheel dresser and the adjustable tool guide. The tool guide normally is included when new, but the dresser is normally optional. You should also shop around for the wheels. I recommend the 60 grit in AO.

I bought a new Baldor carbide grinder many years ago. At the time, I thought it was the best choice. The wheel hubs wobbled, so I had to take them off and true them up in the lathe. I have a green (silicon carbide) wheel on one end, solely for rough grinding brazed carbide lathe tools for taking off big chips or doing a major reshaping job. It sort of worked, but I never really liked using it. I have not used that wheel for decades, preferring a green wheel on a conventional bench grinder.

The other end of my Baldor carbide grinder has a plated diamond wheel. It worked OK, but I later got a low speed oscillating head grinder with the magnetic wheel holder and medium and fine quick change diamond wheels. I liked the oscillating grinder better than the Baldor.

Then I got a Glendo Accu-Finish grinder and an assortment of plated diamond wheels. That is the only one I have used for carbide lathe tools since I bought it. I also use it for putting the final edge on HS lathe tools.

I use SRD/TDR drill grinders. They work. They produce factory-like geometry. They have one chuck instead of a hundred-odd collets like the Black Diamond.

Larry

It would have to be a real piece of crap for the motor itself to not be balanced. But if you machine up some nice flanges for it, you can make nearly any old POS into a nice grinder. I'd recommend that the rear flange be on the order of 1/2" thick and very low clearance, or even a light shrink fit (0 clearance). Get an accurate rear flange and you're a good ways there in getting a smooth running grinder.

The reason I recommend going to that work is so you can buy 2 or 3 inexpensive 1/2 hp grinders and have assorted wheels set up and ready to go, without spending a small fortune. Successful grinding means making it handy to have the correct wheel mounted and ready to go, or else, you just won't do it, will ya?

Green 'morph' wheels are maybe good to relieve the steel shank from under a brazed carbide. I call 'em morph wheels because they change shape right in front of your eyes

So you need a grinder with a fine and a coarse AlO wheels to rough in drills and bits of HSS. Then a couple of CBN wheels to do the finer sharpening on HSS. And a couple of Diamond wheels to do carbide fine grinding. That's 6 wheels, so, 3 POS grinders

And that's just for off hand grinding.... tool and cutter grinders, drill sharpeners....those can be extras for when you graduate to needing one.

Edit: check Shars for diamond and cbn wheel kits that won't break the bank. Some of their wheels are not accurately made.....I dunno why anyone would go to the trouble of making something that looks exactly like a diamond grinding wheel but couldn't be bothered to center the aluminum blank under the ring of abrasive. For me, it's cost prohibitive to return it, but you could and should until you get good running wheels, on your accurized grinder.

The Glendo I have is great, I don't use anything else for regular carbide lathe tools either, and I even have other diamond wheel grinders. But I am thinking of a green wheel setup just to rough out carbide, before getting to the Glendo.

I have even used it to tune up an insert from time to time. And of course for an edge hone on HSS.

You guys with the Glendos, are you using the diamond wheels for the final honing of hss bits? if so, what grit?

I asked about a month ago for wheels for my baldor grinder search for that thread. I found out that diamond wheels are not for HSS. Using them for any steel or iron will quickly eat the diamonds up. Something about the hot carbon in the diamonds turning to plasma and vaporizing. I am not sure if this occurs with water cooling to some degree or not.
Bill D.

The Glendo is a slow speed wheel, plus you use water with it.

Bill D said:

I asked about a month ago for wheels for my baldor grinder search for that thread. I found out that diamond wheels are not for HSS. Using them for any steel or iron will quickly eat the diamonds up. Something about the hot carbon in the diamonds turning to plasma and vaporizing. I am not sure if this occurs with water cooling to some degree or not.
Bill D.

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I looked but couldn't find it, until the OP revealed himself!


http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...r-wheels-4-mounting-holes-341626/#post3061432

I run a diamond cup wheel on my old Norton tool and cutter grinder. I built a couple fixtures for dressing drills and splitting points. It works great, but after a couple years, the sharp edged of the cup wheel is starting to round off. Is there a way to dress a diamond wheel and get that edge back?

Glendo! Best thing for tungsten carbide.

Take a piece of CRS (1018) and push it into the running wheel where you want to dress it.

I have a couple of old diamond wheels with big wear areas in the flat face and was able to get them flat again doing this. It takes some patience.

Terry Keeley said:

Take a piece of CRS (1018) and push it into the running wheel where you want to dress it.

I have a couple of old diamond wheels with big wear areas in the flat face and was able to get them flat again doing this. It takes some patience.

Click to expand...

Not sure about this, but I don't think that does much with the wheel running at full speed....it's a grinder, it's gonna grind. I've had some success by letting the wheel get up to speed, shutting off the power, and then leaning into it with the soft steel with moderate pressure to slow it to a stop in a few seconds. I think it's the slower speed required to break the bond to get the grains to bust out. It might be an idea to make a mandrel to hold the wheel securely in a lathe and then attempt the dressing at a constant low speed if you had a lot to take off.

Perhaps Carbide Bob will contribute to this sort of discussion.

HuFlungDung said:

Not sure about this, but I don't think that does much with the wheel running at full speed....it's a grinder, it's gonna grind. I've had some success by letting the wheel get up to speed, shutting off the power, and then leaning into it with the soft steel with moderate pressure to slow it to a stop in a few seconds. I think it's the slower speed required to break the bond to get the grains to bust out. It might be an idea to make a mandrel to hold the wheel securely in a lathe and then attempt the dressing at a constant low speed if you had a lot to take off.

Perhaps Carbide Bob will contribute to this sort of discussion.

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As you say you havta push it into the wheel hard enough to slow it down, but it does work!

i don't turn the machine off, just let it recover and force the steel back into the wheel.

Think about this, the faster you spin a wheel the harder it acts.
At lower speed the unit grain force goes way up. This higher force on each grain "rips" the diamond out of the bond as they only have so much holding power.
Low speed grinding wheels are way hard and useless at normal speeds as the force is too low to remove the dull diamonds.

So yes, slow allows you to reform easier as you have made the wheel softer by doing so.

I rarely if ever use a piece of steel to reshape a wheel but will often use steel as a stick at full speed to dull the diamonds to prevent edge chippage.
Here the desired outcome is not to remove anything but just simply to dull down the sharp points which tear out pieces of carbide on the cutting edge you are trying to make.
Bob

CarbideBob said:

Think about this, the faster you spin a wheel the harder it acts.
At lower speed the unit grain force goes way up. This higher force on each grain "rips" the diamond out of the bond as they only have so much holding power.
Low speed grinding wheels are way hard and useless at normal speeds as the force is too low to remove the dull diamonds.

So yes, slow allows you to reform easier as you have made the wheel softer by doing so.

I rarely if ever use a piece of steel to reshape a wheel but will often use steel as a stick at full speed to dull the diamonds to prevent edge chippage.
Here the desired outcome is not to remove anything but just simply to dull down the sharp points which tear out pieces of carbide on the cutting edge you are trying to make.
Bob

Click to expand...

How are diamond wheels dressed in industry?

120 and 320 diamond will grind tool bits very well..500 will give a mirror finish but grinds more slowly. 1500 and better are common but over kill for tool bits..*all with coolant IMHO..You can set the clearance to 10/12 the angle to desired and flat grind drills and then back off the heal by hand for a decent point. You can even tickle HSS drills for just the edge with a diamond wheel running wet.. yes it is hard on diamonds taking a lot of steel. Tickle the edge of HSS bits makes them super sharp.. I don't think much of using a carbide grinder with an AO wheel.

Don't know if I already mentioned this but a diamond wheel should be back shimmed so the face runs .001 or .002 close at the start up..paper shim is foe for this..Good to have an extra indicator point or put a piece of plastic or steel shim under the point so not to wreck your point.

Shim-true back because when the diamond layer is gone in one area the wheel is shot so you loose the use of .005/.010/,015 diamonds is the grinder hub it that far off..

Good to move across the wheel holding part to the protractor and grind with the wheel high spot so use dresses the wheel.

Yes grinding soft carberumdrm stick but also wastes wheel.

Taking the wheel off and grinding it with a harder green wheel on a TC grinder works but also is a waste of green wheel and diamond wheel.

Yes it is a great machine for carbide and only an ok machine for steel IMHO..I think you cant beat s straight wheel grinding on the OD for steels.

Yes bench grinder away the steel and braze before using the diamond wheel.. green wheel is best for this but snagging off on an aluminum oxide wheel at a higher clearance can remove the steel and braze..while dressing the bench grinder wheel flat when the carbide begins to hit.

I use to use slowing down to finish tickle a radius.. at my first real job I ran hundreds of single points to .002 or so and radius to +- .003 or so..yes back when my eyes were much better.

So how is a Glendo Series II different from a Series I? (Well, more money...)
Practical difference in their function?

And.. one more thing about the Glendo- does anyone know how fast the wheel turns on them (RPM?)? I have one of the Baldor 500 carbide grinders. It is 3ph and I put a vfd on it. I wonder if I could make an adaptor to use one of the glendo wheels and if I slowed it down if it would work the same?