diamond truing tool trouble

[David Peterson]

I bought a new T-3 some months ago. Right off the bat I could see that the wheel was not true. Side to side motion didn't bother so much as the up and down motion, which was considerable. I could watch the handle of my chisel move up and down as the blade contacted the out-of-round stone. Back to the online store to spend more money on a diamond truing wheel. Mounting it in the square tool jig and working across the stone there was a tremendous amount of vibration within the the truing wheel. Tried to brace the support as I used it but there was still way too much play, it seems, within in the diamond tip housing to really true up the wheel; so much so that I managed to score the wheel badly in my attempts.

I was working carefully and I wasn't trying to take too much off the stone at a time. I was just left with the feeling that the housing for the diamond tip was a bit cheap. Not satisfying after spending $80 on it. I finally got the wheel relatively square and true but not without a lot of fussing around. Am I missing something?

[Jeff Farris]

Begin with the diamond on the outside and make the cut with the diamond moving from outside toward the inside.  That will greatly reduce the vibration. Contrary to intuition, when it starts chattering, speed up your feed rate a little.  Most people's natural inclination is to slow down.

[David Peterson]

Thanks Jeff, for the quick reply. I was moving from the outside to the middle, as you mention, and taking the speed as directed: what was it, 90 seconds over the width of the wheel? Next time it's required I'll try to speed things up a bit. The rest of the machine is first rate. I just hadn't expected the wheel to need so much work out of the box.

[ionut]

Hi David,

You can try to apply some teflon tape on the thread, that will reduce the vibrations (the play in the dimond housing). In my case even if I have to do more passes I also cut less than a nut gradation in one pass. I know the book say you can cut more, but when I cut less teh truing process seems smoother and the look of the stone as well.

Ionut

[papaLewie]

Hi David

I ran into the exact same problem. After a few months owning my T3 I decided to true up my wheel. I did as you did, following the instructions very carefully. And with the same results a very heavily grooved wheel.  Then I did quite a few half turn passes which helped then I got the uncontrollable vibrations again. It flattened out, more or less, after putting a new bevel on an old chisel but was by no means ideal and certainly not what I had in mind. Have you managed to improve on your first efforts - any advice for my next go.

David
London, UK.