Wheel bogs down with heavy pressure

[Dakotapix]

I've noticed during a couple recent sessions that I'm able to bog down the wheel if I exert fairly heavy pressure while trying to establish a new bevel on a plane iron. Usually I just lighten the pressure and it runs fine. I'm wondering though if I should have replaced the bearings when I installed the new Ezy-Lok shaft. The bearings appear to be some kind of plastic. Any thoughts?

[Mike Fairleigh]

A certain amount of bogging down is normal.  I view it as feedback from the machine to let me know to ease up a bit.  It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a spare set of bearings on hand (I think they're about $18 per pair), but that's not why you're bogging down.

[Jeff Farris]

More than likely, you motor shaft is slipping on the drive tire. Take the honing wheel off and clean the drive tire and the motor shaft with a piece of sandpaper (coarse for the tire, fine for the motor shaft). Just let them run and hold the sandpaper against them. It will restore traction between them.

[Dakotapix]

Thanks, guys. I will try the sandpaper trick, Jeff.

[Herman Trivilino]

I'm wondering though if I should have replaced the bearings when I installed the new Ezy-Lok shaft. The bearings appear to be some kind of plastic. Any thoughts?

Nylon, I think.  I thought the MSK-250 came with a set of new nylon bearings, but I guess I'm wrong because I don't see that on the website!

Anyway, you could try lubricating them.

[Dakotapix]

Yes, new bearing did come with the new shaft. I just didn't bother to replace them. According to Jeff, the bearings are not the problem though. Haven't gotten around to do the fix yet.

[Herman Trivilino]

You should definitely follow Jeff's advice concering the cleaning of the drive wheel and the drive shaft.  I would also install those new bearings, though, and make sure they are lubricated properly.  Both of these maintainence tasks are crucial to getting a good torque coupling between grindstone and motor.  To me it doesn't make sense to change the mainshaft and not install the new bearings.

[Ken S]

I agree with Herman.  Installing the new bearings may or may not actually improve your machine's performance.  Having a new set of bearings in the drawer will definitely not make a difference.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

There's a reason new bearings are included in the new mainshaft kit.  By the time the original shaft wears out there's definitely significant wear on the bearings.  Especially if they weren't lubricated.  Why install a new shaft and keep the old bearings?  The shaft is made of steel, the bearings are made of nylon!

[T L Tjader]

I ALSO HAVE THE PROBLEM WITH THE SHAFT SLIPPING ON THE DRIVE SHAFT. i HAVE DONE THE SANDPAPER THING, WHICH HELPS SHORT TERM. NOW I JUST DIP MY FINGER IN WATER AND APPLY TO THE DRIVE TIRE. WHICH I THINK JUST REMOVES FINE DUST, AND IT IS GOOD TO GO FOR A WHILE. I HAVE WONDERED ABOUT GLUING A PIECE OF SANDPAPER UNTO THE DRIVE SHAFT. ANY THOUGHTS ARE WELCOMED.

[Herman Trivilino]

You also have to clean the drive shaft.  When you apply sandpaper to the drive wheel the dust gets on the drive shaft.  Clean the drive shaft and make sure it's clean.

[Mike Fairleigh]

Herman is right, wheel residue builds up on the shaft.  Also, one thing that never seems to come up in these threads is that there's such a thing as too much pressure.  Let the machine do the work.

[T L Tjader]

I clean both the wheel and the drive shaft, also lighten up on the pressure applied to the tool. I still wonder about gluing a piece of emory paper to the drive shaft for more traction.

[Herman Trivilino]

Let's suppose you could somehow get around the problem of getting the emory cloth to adhere to the surface of the wheel.  You could, for example, imagine a belt made of emery cloth wrapped around an expandable wheel so the belt doesn't slip.

Even in this case I highly doubt you could get good traction between the wheel and the drive shaft.  The drive shaft would quickly get covered with the dust from the emory cloth and would slip.  I think it would be a catastrophy.  But that's just my opinion.  I could be wrong.

If you've cleaned the drive shaft, and treated the drive wheel with sandpaper, and it's still slipping then you're pressing way too hard on the grindstone.

[T L Tjader]

I agree with your accessment of the paper getting clogged up fast. As with most woodturners we develop a pretty good since of touch and I am sure I am not applying to much pressue. I am wondering if there is a compound that could be applied to the drive wheel to increase traction. Thank you for your thoughts.