How to Dress and Balance a Surface Grinder Wheel

Don Bailey - Owner of Suburban Tool Inc. demonstrates- How to dress and balance a Surface Grinder Wheel

[@jakegodfrey9490]

I should be paying you. I’m the most inexperienced and the most impressive person at my job. I owe it all to KZbin and the you guys!

[@karlkemble9098]

I always appreciate your dignified manner. A decent man. Great role model for the boys in the shop. Thank you

[@devinwhitaker8467]

Dude thank you so much. I started working in a maintenance department and they elected me and only me to run the Bridgeport and the surface grinder and you are a awesome teacher.

[@MatchmakerYvon]

You're thorough. You have high standards when it comes to precision. Thank you for giving us the benefits of your decades of experience.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Thank you for watching!

[@misso4495]

Hello and thanks from Brazil!

[@albertvelasquez7089]

Good morning sir, started in the early 70's as a tool and cutter grinder,in my fathers machine shop,never had the basic understanding of proper removing grinding wheel other than checking for cracks with the bell sound.I retired 12 years ago but recently had the opportunity to back to work doing this type of work,thanks really helps understanding how grinding wheels operate and the care to extend spindle bearing life

[@YoucaNShine]

thank you so much sir for sharing your knowledge with us.. I have played your video while am teaching the specification, reconditioning of the grinding wheel process.. thanks a lot.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Thank you for the kind words and thank you for watching.

[@joe-lflores109]

I'm just starting my toolmaker apprenticeship and I must say I enjoy watching your videos thank you

[@BruceBoschek]

These videos are priceless. Thank you kindly for sharing them.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Thanks for watching!

[@charlesbrewer6552]

G'day Don These videos you are doing are fantastic! I am an enthusiastic 63 year old self taught home machinist. I have been playing with this stuff for about 10 years ( as a hobby) and I feel I am just starting to REALLY understand how to DO stuff. The utube videos that are available these days are fantastic. You can only learn so much from books. To be able to see real tradesmen operating these machines is invaluable. In this video you use a balancing machine. I have seen these used all over the place, I would like to build one and was wondering what bearings are used ( or perhaps centers?) to reduce the friction to the necessary amount. Thanks again for your videos, I devour them as they come out. Charles Brewer (Australia)

[@charrontheboatman]

Hi Don just wanted to thank you for all of the hand teaching/holding you do with all of us apprentices out here in VR land, I have learned more from you as related to detail information than I have in any class. thanks again stay safe!

[@SuburbanToolInc]

You're very welcome, glad to have been able to help. Thanks again for watching!

[@kevinsmith1976]

Hi Don I really enjoy your videos. My apprentice master always taught us to blow off the wheel with compressed air when truing and dressing and after any subsequent dressing. His reason was to remove any loose particles from the wheel and eliminate scratches.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Thanks, I'm glad to hear you like our content. Those are very good tips from your apprentice master, it definitely makes a difference.

[@ltousig]

Don, Thanks for the wonderful videos. I'm learning a lot from you!

[@justinchurch8440]

I have spent many many years as well on a manual surface grinder. Done tons of very close tolerance form grinding. Good stuff here, another important tip is when dressing the wheel; always good to get in the habit of setting up the diamond left of center to the wheel. Reason being, if you happen to leave the chuck off and go to dress your wheel, the diamond gets kicked away from the wheel. If you are right of center and chuck happens to be off, well your gonna probably at very least bust your diamond, worst situation being you blow the wheel up and everyone comes over to the grinder and asks "are you ok!!!?" lol.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Thanks for watching!

[@Mike_Ellis]

I've learned something today - thanks!

[@nicklapensee1825]

Great info, Don. Thank you much!

[@YoeyYutch]

Greetings! Excellent demonstration sir.

[@RandallMoore1955]

Thanks for the lesson Don

[@disasterprophet]

Sr. you make great videos !!! Best regards !

[@ac4uv]

Outstanding, interesting thank you Don!

[@christronomatic]

your the best Don! thanks

[@kellysampson5984]

Hi Don, You have helped me so much. THANKS M.K.S.

[@beesncheese]

Hi Don, thank you for showing this, very interesting,I have a old hand surface grinder,wondered how they balanced the wheel on them I do not have a balancer frame though will have to try and make one .Regards Ed

[@sp1nrx]

I noticed that either 2 different wheels were used in the video or the wheel shown first was further balanced between scenes. The "first" balanced wheel had 3 pockets drilled in it and the "second" wheel had 6+ pockets.

[@PowerWindows3813]

Old habits die hard for old school grinders. Just like my boss 30+ years experience.

[@siggyincr7447]

Interesting way of balancing the wheels. I did my apprenticeship in a shop where all the surface grinder arbors had balancing weights. Later I worked in shops that didn't and the general practice was to just always dress the wheel every time you turned on the spindle. It worked fairly well to remove the chatter most of the time, but I never really liked that way. But management never wanted to buy arbors with balancing weights. I wish this method would have dawned on me back then.

[@jeffreyblankley]

I still can’t believe most guys in our tool room bang on the spindle. I was fortunate to be told by a regular grinder hand that you are NOT supposed to hit the wrench. HAND TIGHT ONLY AND USE THE PULLER!!!

[@MrPhilfluffy]

Hi, thanks for taking time to make these videos. I am still learning about how to run my hydraulic unit and the videos are helpful. If you ever end up reshooting this could I suggest you find a bad wheel and video how it sounds in comparison to the noise of a good one? Ive heard lots that ring, but I have one that doesnt that I have never mounted because of the sound change, although it is of different composition to the other wheels I have so unsure, and it would be nice to know what a bad one sounds like for real to know.

[@joedeyoung737]

Great video.... Thanks. Do you have a video of how to true a CBN wheel?

[@creamshop]

thanks! Don

[@55chevytruck]

When you balanced the wheel it was static balanced. I agree that this the way to do it, but have you ever considered to dynamic balance like on a SW balancer?

[@nlo114]

Hi Don, love your stuff, I'm still learning at 60yrs old. When I was an apprentice we were told to leave the machine running all day long to prevent coolant build-up at the bottom of a stationary wheel, with the consequent imbalance. Does this still apply? (I haven't used a surface grinder for 40yrs) Cheers, Nick.

[@dsplodge86]

I've never seen a wheel balanced this way before. I have only ever used hubs with sliding weights.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Be careful, you don't want to damage the wheel.

[@stevenacarter77]

thank you

[@arvinace2666]

hi sir can show me how to dress convex and concave .thanks.

[@addinazmi3280]

Thanks don

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Thank you.

[@886014]

I'm curious as to how much material you typically remove from wheels and what percentage of wheel width you'd consider the maximum to drill to? I have a similar sized grinder and have only ever dressed and never balanced the wheels, however would like to see how much difference it makes on small machines. Thanks for putting up these videos.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

Pete F not to exceed 25% of the thickness of the wheel is a good rule of thumb.Try to take it up near the arbor and only take what is required to balance the wheel.We are pleased you like the video'sWe will be putting up new ones weekly.Thanks for the comments.

[@markrichardson239]

Don; I can't possibly thank you enough for sharing your techniques and knowledge. I have some requests: Can you demonstrate sharpening end teeth of an end mill in the Master Grind? I have the Weldon air bearing rig for the flutes. I was thinking it would be a lot easier if my B&S 6x18 hydraulic grinder ( Circa... 1970? ) had hard stops on the table to prevent me from burying the wheel into the mill.. do you put stops on? Can you outfit for hard stops in any axis without worrying about harming the grinder, especially in Z where you are hard-geared? Can I dress and form a diamond or CBN wheel? I would like to form some of these. The first occurance is I'd like to take a 1/8" wide diamond wheel, and throw a 1/16" radius all around the edge so I can cut real nice chip breakers in my brazed carbide lathe tools. I love the way you always run your rig as a hand-cranker in the videos... I am a mere 55, and when I bought this grinder, I knew I had to have power as my shoulder is pretty much worn out.. How do I determine if my spindle bearings are shot? How much flex and play can I get away with, and when the wheel is running as opposed to static, will it flatten out? Are these bearings typically matched ABEC 9's? What is your preferred hydraulic oil? I bought the recommended, and it hurt. I also took the sheep filter out and replaced it with spin-on filters. I can't remember the micron rating, but the machine still operates. I think the sheep can catch 10 microns. I was really surprised to find those old filters are commonly available as heating oil filters, for those who may be having a tough time finding them... under a different brand, but an exact match. Three bags full. Plus... I was thinking of making a following stage to hollow-grind knives in the Y axis using the wheel dressing feed in my old rig... you ever try anything crazy like that? Those would be pretty much organic curves on an incline. Anyhow, sorry for the extensive request. But... well... I am an avid follower... And when you get tired of that old surface plate you work on, I will be glad to send the boys to haul it off. Thanks so much again!!! Mark

[@SuburbanToolInc]

+Mark Richardson Don; I can't possibly thank you enough for sharing your techniques and knowledge. I have some requests: Can you demonstrate sharpening end teeth of an end mill in the Master Grind? We send our end mills out as this is not cost effective to do in house. I have the Weldon air bearing rig for the flutes. I was thinking it would be a lot easier if my B&S 6x18 hydraulic grinder ( Circa... 1970? ) had hard stops on the table to prevent me from burying the wheel into the mill.. do you put stops on? Hard stops are absolutely necessary. Can you outfit for hard stops in any axis without worrying about harming the grinder, especially in Z where you are hard-geared? We don’t know why you would want to and do not know how to do z. Can I dress and form a diamond or CBN wheel? No but you can have them custom made from a diamond wheel manufacturer. I would like to form some of these. The first occurance is I'd like to take a 1/8" wide diamond wheel, and throw a 1/16" radius all around the edge so I can cut real nice chip breakers in my brazed carbide lathe tools. I love the way you always run your rig as a hand-cranker in the videos... I am a mere 55, and when I bought this grinder, I knew I had to have power as my shoulder is pretty much worn out.. How do I determine if my spindle bearings are shot? It would be noisy and you would get a chatter. How much flex and play can I get away with, and when the wheel is running as opposed to static, will it flatten out? If you’re talking about the spindle play the answer is zero. Are these bearings typically matched ABEC 9's? Yes What is your preferred hydraulic oil? We use Cadillac x150 or HD32 equivalent on our B&S grinders I bought the recommended, and it hurt. I also took the sheep filter out and replaced it with spin-on filters. I can't remember the micron rating, but the machine still operates. I think the sheep can catch 10 microns. I was really surprised to find those old filters are commonly available as heating oil filters, for those who may be having a tough time finding them... under a different brand, but an exact match. Three bags full. Plus... I was thinking of making a following stage to hollow-grind knives in the Y axis using the wheel dressing feed in my old rig... you ever try anything crazy like that? No

[@markrichardson239]

+SuburbanTool Inc Thanks yet again!!! I assume you use an inexpensive mason drill to balance the wheels, correct?

[@albion2742]

I always used coolant while dressing as the diamond can crack or put an angle on the wheel when the diamond expands from heat, I also noticed that you never trued the wheel.. when the wheel is out of tru it is also out of balance. Especially when working to very, very tight tolerance.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

+George Lee You are correct about the coolant. I did true the wheel.

[@bigbattenberg]

I am not sure in the context of this machine type what the difference is between truing and dressing - isn't this one and the same operation when moving a diamond across the wheel?

[@Tome4kkkk]

9:40 Wouldn't it be better to drill closer to the outer circumference? Less effect on the integrity, higher effect on the balance is what comes to mind from geometry and physics. What would other considerations be that made you drill closer to the axis?

[@127069]

you dont want holes near the cutting surface! higher g's not least reducing life of the wheel!

[@sokolvasha5509]

Can anybody tell me what is the correct name of technician who works on these machines? crankshaft grinding machine. cylindrical grinding machine. CMR grinding machine. surface grinding machine. Thanks.

[@SuburbanToolInc]

[@supermetaltastic]

Who sells the diamond dresser or do you make it?

[@SuburbanToolInc]

We manufacture the Last Word Wheel Dressers here in Auburn Hills, MI. www.subtool.com/st/lwd_wheel_dresser.html

[@alexandrefaria3437]

que pena que não tem em português.

[@danpalattao5806]

I missed that job I am very good at it before 11 years ago😂😜😜😜

[@manusholm3536]

cant you make balancing hubs? you have all the tools to do that. drilling into the stone seems bit crude, even if its done that way for 100 years. and dont you dress the sides of the wheel?

[@m.s.l.7746]

If you end up with a bad wheel, it was probably the bozo in the box truck that delivered it &, to an extent, the packing department for not knowing better.

[@alanhelgerson9399]

You misspelled Safety...

[@Rupesh9665]

Plz sir Hindi main bolo n

[@blakewerner4368]

thank you