contact wheel

T

Timy

Well-Known Member
Say I have no desire to hollow grind, or atleast dont plan to very often.

I have the flat platen as well as the rotary platen. I am looking for a wheel for stock removal and saving belts. I see most recommend getting a 10 for hollow grinding, however since my goal is mainly stock removal can I get by with an 8"

Thanks for your time.
 
An 8" wheel would work just fine for profiling. And should you want to give hollow gringing a try it would be a good size wheel to learn on and do great for smaller knives.
 
I don't know if a wheel will help you very much with stock removal. You must be contour grinding on your flat platen which is what I do even though I have two machines and one with a 10" wheel. If you are using a 60 grit have you tried a 36? Do you have a 2hp. or more driving your belts? Just some thoughts. Frank
 
I am a Flat grinder myself with a bit of convex too.
I use the 5' wheel on my hardcore core products grinder from www.tru-grit.com they sell wheels and so does Bossdog right here.

The rubber of a good contact wheel will make profile grinding a bit smoother for you and a bit easier on the belts as well in my experience. So a 5" or larger will work. go 3-5" if you may want to make Daggers/Tacticool killer type blades or 8-10" or even larger for hunters and others if you want to do some hollow grinding. The price goes up fast if you are on a budget and building your own grinder.

I use my Ceramic belts for grinding blades first. and them move them over to profiling etc after the first 40-60% of the grit is gone. My belt progression is 36g 60g 120g then to finishing.

So to answer your original question. A 8" will do it and you can get by with a 3-5" and save a few for materials.
Have fun
 
Yep, I'm sure he does mean trugrit.com and most likely it's a 5 "inch" wheel rather than the 5 "foot" wheel he mentioned :)

Ken H>
 
Yes, Trugrit Ontario.
Also there is nothing wrong with a five footer if you can run one but I was reffering to the 5" wheel I have. I also use the 2" wheel on top for some profiling as well.
 
I use an 8" for profiling (cleaning up the rough band saw cuts), along with a small wheel (1/2" - 5/8" - or 3/4").

When you are trying to hollow grind on a blade that is, say, between 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" tall, you have to walk the grind in if you try to carry it near the spine. It can be done, but I find that it is often times inconsistent.

I have used a 10" with better success, however, an even larger wheel makes life much more enjoyable when trying to hollow grind taller blades and bring the grind line upwards towards the spine. A larger wheel also really helps with distal tapers.

Just my experience................ Robert
 
Thanks again for all the help.

I guess what I was asking, say right now no hollow grinding, just using the wheel for stock removal cause lets face it the platen just sucks for that! Would I be losing efficiency using say a 5-6" wheel over an 8-10 or will they all take material off about the same?
 
Timy said:
Would I be losing efficiency using say a 5-6" wheel over an 8-10 or will they all take material off about the same?
Click to expand...

You'll never notice the difference if there is any but the 8"-10" will likely see more use in the event you want to get more creative with your grinding. If using it for just profiling, get the serrated wheel, they're much more aggressive in removing stock.

Rudy
 
Timy, Boss has an 8" Poly wheel for a bit over $100 that seems to be a good compromise over the expensive 10" wheel. I find the contact wheel is MUCH better for hogging material off - much less power is lost (and less heat generated) when profiling with contact wheel vs platen. Another big plus is the "groove" that is created by a contact wheel helping hold the grind even down the blade. I could never bevel worth a hoot on a platen - the bubble jig helps a LOTS there. But with the 8" contact wheel I do fairly well without the bubble jig. Sometimes will use it when moving from hollow grind to flat grind.

Ken H>
 
Ken thanks man!

The plan is to get used to the 5, use it for smaller hollows and hogging material off, saving my platen. Then hopefully get a 14" wheel so my hollows are "almost" flat

I am excited for this groove theory I hear it a few here and there but havent experienced it yet. Wheel arrives today so well see =)
 
If you're really wanting to hog off material, I'd suggest getting a serrated contact wheel... about 70 durometer IIRC.

As for diameter, it somewhat depends I suppose.

Keep in mind that if you're finish grinding the spines, edges of handles, scales, etc... you're going to be grinding a hollow rather than a perfectly flat 90 degree face. (assuming your grinding laterally to the wheel face, and not longitudinally like a horizontal grinder)
This really doesn't matter if you're using thinner stock, or flat grinding, slack belt grinding, or contouring things afterwards. Just somethign to keep in mind.

A larger wheel will tend to run a little cooler due to surface area and RPM of the bearings. Serrated wheels run cooler yet, as the grooves tend to move more air.
 
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