New drive wheel, T-8 technology flows back to T-7 and beyond.

[Jan]

Stig,

thank you for your clarification! 

It is nice to know that step by step you are doing improvements of individual components of the machine.

Thanks also for your guidance concerning the nylon T7 drive wheel, appreciated!   

Jan

P.S.: Will the date be stored in the table on the wheel?

[Herman Trivilino]

It accepts very high temperatures.

So, was there an issue with the rubber on the older drive wheels? I've noticed that mine is very slippery sometimes. I know the maintenance procedure of applying sandpaper to the rubber on the drive wheel, but it seems like sometimes I have to do it a lot more often than other times.'

[Ken S]

I like to stay actively current with the latest Tormek developments. I just purchased a new zinc drive wheel for my T7. After closely examining both my present plastic drive wheel and the new zinc model, here are my thoughts:

The new zinc model seems substantially sturdier. However, for the duty requirements, the plastic model seems more than adequate. In seven years of being active on this forum, I only remember one cracked drive wheel, (Elden's), and he wrote that the wheel had been glued before he purchased his SuperGrind, and that it is still in active service. From this observation, I would guess that the Tormek engineers took advantage of redesigning the T7 into the T8 to upgrade the drive wheel. The beefed up zinc wheel would eliminate potential drive wheel problems.

Stig states that the problem with broken drive wheels is caused by not properly seating the drive wheel and leather honing wheels in the pins when attaching them. I would classify this as "operator error", however, it must have occurred frequently enough for the engineers to redesign the drive wheel. I can not observe anything which would cause the drive wheel to crack in normal operation. Given Tormek's very long warranty periods, either seven or ten years, replacing the drive wheel as a preventative measure does not seem cost effective.

I would welcome comments from heavy users like Steve or Robin Bailey. Have any of you very heavy users ever cracked a drive wheel?

By the way, the rubber on the new zinc drive wheel does feel "grippier" than on my plastic model. However, I have not noticed any slipping with the plastic wheel.

Ken

[jeffs55]

Stig states that the problem with broken drive wheels is caused by not properly seating the drive wheel and leather honing wheels in the pins when attaching them.
Ken

There is no way to fully compensate for the ability of man to screw something up. I have known people with the power to mess up an anvil.

[Ken S]

Well said.......

Ken

[SharpenADullWitt]

Is there a front and back to the new drive wheel?
I mentioned before mine is cracked, and it looked like an epoxy type of stuff was used to cover the split.  But I greased the shaft tonight (of the 2000) and started fighting getting it back on.  I see no marking telling me the front from the back, but I do see a chip out of the one side, where I think one of the prior owners, forced it back over the tension pin on the shaft.  That way seems to slide over it, but flip the wheel around and no go.
So I went on and ordered the new drive wheel tonight, as now trying the T-7, that feels like it has more power (so I expect the drive wheel was needing a sanding/starting to slip).

EDIT: 
I took the leather wheel off of the T-7 tonight, and saw that there was the m12 flat nut between it and the leather wheel.  My 2000, does not have one there (part number 51), but it also has the leather profile wheels (LA-120), so I had assumed the nut was removed for distance reasons.  I don't see anything in the LA-120 directions on this, so this may be a mistake, that I am just now realizing (came this way), that could have affected the drive wheel.  I think a hardware store run may be in order.

[Ken S]

SADW,

There is definitely a front and back side to the drive wheel. The drive wheel slips over a cross pin going through the main shaft. This cross pin is what prevents the drive wheel and the leather honing wheel from spinning independently from the shaft. The inward side of the drive wheel has a built in housing to hold the cross pin in place.

I looked in my early handbook. Even the earliest drill powered Tormek uses the cross pin. The cross pin is essential.

I found installing the new drive wheel required a bit of finessing to fully seat the drive wheel. It took me perhaps three tries, although I think future installations would go more quickly, now that I have learned the technique. Make sure to reinstall all washers and nuts. Replace any which have gone missing.

A short disassembly/reassembly video would be very useful.

I have a C&H mat cutter. Like the Tormek, it is a fine machine with a number of small, very losable parts. I happened to find a kit of spare parts for it. Now, if I ever lose or break one of the locking knobs, I have a spare. It would be nice if Tormek or one of the parts dealers would put together a kit with a couple washers, nuts, cross pin and a couple knobs. The main expense of ordering something like a cross pin or washer is shipping. A kit would combine everything in one shipping cost.

Ken

[SharpenADullWitt]

My new drive wheel came in and it is the plastic one.  The new one has the Tormek name on it, the original didn't.  The new one has the spot for the tension pin on one side, and from what I can see, it appears the cracks on the old, came about in part from forcing the outside, down on the tension pin (causing a chip and potentially separating the wheel).  The other thought was this had to do with the original shaft and rust.