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CBN Grinding Wheels

Ted Calver said:
Just one note of caution. IIRC one of the drawbacks to CBN vs AO is that the CBN should be used only for magnetic hardened high speed steels, including powdered metal and carbon steels. Other steels and other metals may load up the wheels. I have two grinders, one with two CBN wheels for turning tools and the other, with an AO wheel and a wire brush, for all the other misc grinding I do.
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Ted - just the fact that a steel can be hardened means it has at least "some" - IRON - in it. It is the presence of IRON that makes the steel "hardenable". Iron is the element that is magnetic. An argument could be made that all hardenable steels are magnetic.

I have NO warning "against" - CBN. None at all.

CBN is a Great grinding wheel material.

It just seemed odd to me to see it in a home hobby shop.
 
dimensions and gages

Leo,

I had to laugh about a thousandth seeming huge, I do know what you mean! I did some work off and on in a jobshop machine shop next to my woodworking shop for a few years after an unplanned retirement. I was in the habit of talking in "tenths" and it meant something entirely different to the owner. First time I asked him if two tenths undersize was fine when he just gave me a dimension he almost had a cow!

One of my last projects in R&D was putting together a few air conditioner compressors. Not going to say how small they were but the max clearances we had to hold were .00025". Still big in your world but I requested bids from forty-some-odd machine shops in the area and told them they had to be in tolerance or they would be rejected and not paid for. The request didn't include a print but did accurately describe what was needed. Two shops said they could do it so I sent them faxed prints again emphasizing that any out of spec shafts were theirs to eat. I had calls from both within thirty minutes, not interested in bidding.

A lot of what I made the mating part was the gage. Doesn't work in production but most of my work was very short run or proto-type work.

Hu
 
Leo Voisine said:
...There is no way the CBN wheels can run true on a bench type grinder, without truing it up.
It is just not possible, given the tolerances between the hole and the shaft on the grinder.
HOWEVER - I am certain it is "good enough", but it would drive me up a wall...
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Oh, I'm sure it's way out of whack compared to what you're accustomed to, but compared to the typical grinding wheels used by the average woodturner, it's much smoother and any vibration is virtually non-existent.

I still maintain that the CBN wheels are a vast improvement over the typical AO wheels used by most woodturners, and they are available at a cost that's comparable to top of the line AO wheels, so I see no reason not to use them in a hobby woodworking shop. ;)
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
Oh, I'm sure it's way out of whack compared to what you're accustomed to, but compared to the typical grinding wheels used by the average woodturner, it's much smoother and any vibration is virtually non-existent.
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Oh yes for sure.

A.O. wheels are cast, and they are NOT at all "round".

CBN wheels are not cast. The Aluminum base wheel is machines and the CBN, I believe is "deposited" onto the outside - then it is trued up.

We buy them that way too, but we mount they onto wheel hubs and true them up more before grinding with them.

I am sure they are a HUGE improvement over a standard A.O. wheel - straight out of the box.
 
I have a CBN 180 grit from D-Way tools. I think it is one of the best investment in improving my turning that I have made. I have had it for more than 2 years and I still see no wear or reduced cutting ability. I do a lot of turning.
 
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