2X72 water mister

K

KenH

Well-Known Member
Hello ya'll. I've been wanting a way to help prevent burning a blade while grinding - and with thin kitchen knives it sure is easy to get a dark brown - or heaven forbid a blue tint while grinding. I dip in water each pass when grinding HT'd SS like AEB-L, etc. I wondered about a water cooled platen and found this info on Ameriblade's site " "Attention: This will not effectively carry heat away from the workpiece being ground. For that, we recommend a mist coolant directly on your part." and based on other readings I decided the watercooled platen was not the way to go. It seems a water mister is most recommended on YT and other places.

This week I put a mister assembly on my 2X72 grinder for cooling blade grinding. I've always avoided the mister in the past due to thinking there was going to be a real mess from the water. From reading on other sites and around I decided to give it a try. By keeping the psi down around 70 to 90 psi it works good and my dinky little 5 gal compressor seems to keep up ok. I put a gallon bucket about 3/4ths full of water and with a little grinding I find very little water is gone. The little clear tube goes in bucket of water, 8mm blue tube loops around back then to compressor 32 ft away (length of tube). Of course it's only used during bevel grinding post HT. Profiling there's no point.

This is the mister I order for $19 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071DXGGP4 it's got both air and water adjustment.
This is the tubing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTJVBMQ8?th=1 The extra fittings come in handy.

2x72-Mister.jpg
 

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This is a nice setup, and it really does help reduce overheating when you are doing your post HT grinding, especially with thin blades.
I have been using a system like this for the past several years with good success.
You may want to try adding this #77 grinding fluid to your water bottle.
I have found that it does stop rusting.
The fluid is diluted so that the cost isn't bad over time.
 
Owl said:
This is a nice setup, and it really does help reduce overheating when you are doing your post HT grinding, especially with thin blades.
I have been using a system like this for the past several years with good success.
You may want to try adding this #77 grinding fluid to your water bottle.
I have found that it does stop rusting.
The fluid is diluted so that the cost isn't bad over time.
Click to expand...

I use this liquid mixed with my water as well. Helps IMHO.
 
I'm still too new at this mister to make a good comment. Seems like it would help some. Looking forward to responses from other folks with more experience using the mister.
 
Heikki said:
Does this set-up also reduce dust from grinding? That would be a nice bonus.
Click to expand...
This set up likely won't... It's barely using any water to create a cold light mist to be sprayed on the blade directly.

I use 2 x dual misters that are below my platen wheel (2 inside the belt, 2 outside) and soak the belt completely. It does cut down on dust but doesn't completely eliminate it.
 
Josh, do you have a vacuum dust collector also? If so, does the water in the mist affect the filters of the dust collector?
 
i have a mister that i use but i just don't like the mess...i have a good dust collection system that vents it outside my shop but wasn't sure that i wanted to be sucking water up in it in fear of rusting or shorting out something... So for now i use the mister/sludge bucket when i grind the bevels and use the dust collection for everything else dry. One of the reasons i've been looking at a getting a new Reeder grinder (aluminum) so my mister doesn't rust my grinder
 
I think grinding the bevels would be the only time the mister would be used. I turn it off for everything else when the dust collection system is running. When grinding the bevels I turn the dust collection system off so the mist/water isn't sucked into the system/filter etc.
 
I use a mister sparingly on my Reeder, (and bandsaw). On the grinder I've found:
- it's messy, even at low belt speeds
- even using soluble oil mix, carbon steel will still rust if not dried off
- needed to add steel connector to aluminum tool arm to hold the magnetic base of mister.
- water mist can ruin a Trizac belt, or any belt not designed for water application.
- frequent dipping seems to work better for me.

Using mister coolant on the bandsaw seems to minimize blade wear, particularly on thick material.
 
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MTBob said:
I use a mister sparingly on my Reeder, (and bandsaw). On the grinder I've found:
- it's messy, even at low belt speeds
- even using soluble oil mix, carbon steel will still rust if not dried off
- needed to add steel connector to aluminum tool arm to hold the magnetic base of mister.
- water mist can ruin a Trizac belt, or any belt not designed for water application.
- frequent dipping seems to work better for me.

Using mister coolant on the bandsaw seems to minimize blade wear, particularly on thick material.
Click to expand...
That's interesting... I absolutely SOAK my gator trizacts (337 dc) which aren't rated for water and they hold up great - been doing it for years. The normal trizacts (non gator) don't though so maybe that's what you are referring to?
 
Interesting, I was told by someone years ago that Trizacts will come apart in water, so I never tested to see the results. I'll check to see what # I have. If water won't hurt the belt, that's terrific!
 
MTBob said:
Interesting, I was told by someone years ago that Trizacts will come apart in water, so I never tested to see the results. I'll check to see what # I have. If water won't hurt the belt, that's terrific!
Click to expand...
Yep it's only the gators but they work GREAT
 
The red backed gators I have had chunks of abrasives come off when I ran then wet. No problems with running the white backed (347 series IIRC?) soaking wet, or the ceramic Gators wet. Norax AO also do not like water and the grit just falls off in clumps, but the Ceramic Norax work fine with water.
 
Yes, that's a neat setup - I ordered the foot switch for my mister system. That should save on air, water, and make less water mess in my dust collection system. Dust Collection system isn't running when using mister, but it's still there.
 
I don’t use mine much, but they are definitely nice to have as an option. That looks like a nice kit. My brother is using something similar. He screwed an upside down paintbrush beneath the belt to sweep the water off and guide it to the bucket. Haven’t tried it yet, but next time I need to wet grind I’m going to try it. He says it works great
 
Your brother is putting lots more water on the belt than I am. I set the mister to have a fine mist of water blowing directly on the blade edge - the belt gets wet, but not enough for water to be wiped off. This mist is really cold and does make a difference in overheating the edge while grinding. The edge can still get too hot, but it's a LOTS easier to control than running dry.

I wish I had installed the mister years ago.
 
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