please help me flatten the side of my grinding wheel!!!

[jetwoodshop]

i have posted a couple of times on this topic and have tried to email tormek directly. can anyone help? i have a job coming up that would really benefit from sharp, square tools. 

i have a tormek T7 and i want to know:

is there a proper method that i have not been following that would avoid dishing the side of my wheel? (the wear increases toward the center.)
is there a jig or a way to modify my TT-50 truing tool to flatten the side of my wheel?

help! please!

-james

[Mike Fairleigh]

I'm no expert so I've avoided replying, but I'll throw this out there -

It seems very strange that your wheel side is dishing just from flattening.  Are you using even pressure?  How much of the back are you trying to flatten?  I can't think of any way to re-flatten the side, at least not to the degree it originally was.

I choose to flatten instead using a granite plate and self-adhesive 3M Stickit rolls, but I don't see why the side of the wheel would create such problems.

[Jeff Farris]

I have used the coarse side of the stone grader more successfully than anything else I've tried.  Are you sure it is out of flat? It could be wearing unevenly (more toward the center), yet remain flat.

As for technique, I only use the section of the stone that is running through the water tray.

[Herman Trivilino]

is there a proper method that i have not been following that would avoid dishing the side of my wheel? (the wear increases toward the center.)

It sounds like you are over-using the side of the wheel to flatten tools.  I've found that all that's needed is a one-time touch up.  If a tool is so far out of flat that you need to put that much wear on the wheel, something is wrong with the tool.  Perhaps it's warped?

[jetwoodshop]

thanks, everyone:

i have been flattening a lot of tools, including a pair of pruning shears that used the whole wheel, including the drier center portion. as jeff and tormek support suggest, i have been using more water in the tray and have been trying to only use the wet outside edge of the side of the wheel.

as both jeff and tormek support also suggest, i have used the stone grader to try and dress the side of the wheel. it does make a difference, but the process is slow and inaccurate. i found an old post (2008) from jeff:

"Which truing tool do you have?  If you have the older model ADV-50D, you can drill a hole through the handle from top to bottom (perpendicular to the current hole) back toward the end away from the cutting tip.  Slide that onto the Universal Support and then slide the stop on so that the end of the stop prevents the handle of the cutter from backing away from the stone.  Carefully position the cutter and the stone so that the tip will engage the side of the stone.  Start the machine and swing the cutter in an arc.  Move slowly to keep a consistent finish.  Dress the surface with the stone grader once it is flat."

can i modify my TT-50 truing tool in the same or similar manner?

thanks again,

james

[Jeff Farris]

No.  The TT-50 cannot be modified to work on the side of the wheel.

[trevarthan]

This seems to be a major oversight. We use the diamond truing tool to flatten the top because normal use will cause surface irregularities. The same applies to the side of the stone. Any high spot on the tool will cause inconsistent wear in the side of the stone.

I was thinking of elaborate 90 degree clamp systems for the standard diamond truing tool. Seems like a pain, but possible.

I also researched using diamond t-bar tools for restoring the side of the stone, but they all seem to come in that standard 1-2 inch length, which is too short for more than a quick touch up to the stone.

I wonder if one of those cheap diamond plates that we use to flatten water stones would work?

This, and the fact that the T-7 comes with that crappy dressing stone tool instead of a proper diamond t-bar, are the only two things keeping me from being 100% happy with my T-7.

[Jeff Farris]

"That crappy dressing stone tool" isn't about dressing the stone for shape, it is for conditioning the surface of the stone so that it can either cut quickly or smoothly. You might want to read up on that in the handbook.  The T-7 comes with a screw-fed, highly accurate diamond cutter for re-truing the wheel.

As for truing the side, in nearly 20 years of using the Tormek I've only seen a couple wheels where the side actually needed to be trued, and they had been severely abused.

[Herman Trivilino]

The side of the grindstone should be used only occasionally to flatten the back of a chisel or some similar task.  It should not be used for the removal of metal necessary to reshape a tool or sharpen an edge.  I know it's used with the tool rest to flatten the end of cabinet scrapers, but that's a case where the steel edge is straight and long enough to touch the entire flat of the grindstone side.

I suppose that if the side of my grindstone needed flattening I would take it off the machine and soak it in a bucket of water.  Then lay it flat on a table and use the tool a mason would use to smooth a concrete slab.

I hope I never have to test my theory!

[Mike Fairleigh]

This, and the fact that the T-7 comes with that crappy dressing stone tool instead of a proper diamond t-bar...

That "proper t-bar" is the correct tool for a dry grinder.  The Tormek is a different system.