cbn wheels

[Michael Hawkins]

which is the best tormek cbn wheel for everyday sharpening of turning chisels please

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Michael.

Tormek chose to use diamond wheels instead of CBN. The most versatile Tormek diamond wheel for turning tools is the 600 grit DF-250 for the T8 or the DF-200 for the T4. These leave a smooth finish and cut reasonably fast.

Ken

[Michael Hawkins]

Thank you Ken, I hadn't appreciated the difference but you have answered my question.

[Ken S]

Michael,
Here is a link to the Tormek online class interviewing Håkan Persson, who is Tormek's CEO and a highly respected superabrasives expert:

https://youtu.be/38c95D6z5D8

Ken

[RichColvin]

Michael,

I use the Tormek diamond wheels for my wood turning tools.  The DC one is nice for reshaping the tool, but mostly I use the DF one.  The extra fine (DE) rarely gets used for my turning tools.

Rich

[Ken S]

Michael,

Rich is a very experienced turner. He is also the President of our local woodturners club in the Columbus, Ohio area.
I put a lot of stock in his turning advice.

I suspect you may eventually add one or two extra grits of diamond wheels. For the present, the DF is an excellent starting point.

Keep us posted.

Ken

[Michael Hawkins]

Thank you to everyone for the helpful advice. It's nice too know that there are so many people keen to share knowledge. I have been a carpenter all my adult working life and bought into the Tormek system about fifteen years ago. I have only recently taken up wood turning and am slowly discovering that sharpening the chisels required is a whole different ballgame, lots of new and expensive accessories required. A skill in itself but I will get there. At least I now know that help is only a few clicks of a button away.

[TireguyfromMA]

There's some very good videos by some well known woodturners (Glenn Lucas) on YT showing how they use the TORMEK to sharpen their own tools.  I have the SE77 square edge jig for chisels, that takes some practice to get it tuned in using the two small knobs so it sharpens evenly across the front of the chisel.  I've sharpened a few gouges using the SVD186R with very good results.  I'd also recommend getting the Profiled Leather Honing wheels to hone the concave side of your gouges, works great.   I've just started using CBN wheels for sharpening knives and love em!  Not having to re-adjust the height of the USB when changing wheels, not having to re-grade the SG250, no water tray, mine was vibrating very loud, CBN's run surprisingly cool. and they will outlast stone wheels by many years.  I would say the only down side to them is they do generate some dust, nothing like a belt sharpening though and without the water it's harder to see where the knife is making contact with the wheel.  I know TORMEK prides in the water cooled system of sharpening but Vadim proved the benefits of CBN.

[Ken S]

Tireguy,

You are correct in stating that Vadim proved the value of CBN wheels. These same points would also apply to diamond wheels. However, Vadim designed his Knife Grinders CBN wheels to be used with water. I only recall one occasion in his videos where he used his coarse CBN wheel dry. He also mentioned in one of his last videos that he was beta testing a 1000 grit diamond wheel. We won't know the results of these tests.

Regarding your noisy water trough: This can be problematic, although support can provide an easy home remedy. (support@tormek.se)

Ken

[TireguyfromMA]

Ken,

I'm sure you are correct. I must have missed the fact that Vadim was using water with his CBN's in his videos. I don't think he mentioned it in his deburring book I'm reading.  The vendor I got my CBN wheels from makes it really clear in bold type, all CAPS to not use water.  Use of water will void the lifetime warranty on the wheels. Also the CBN wheels that Vadim was using have the solid aluminum core, probably nickel coated on wheel   where the CBN is attached and using the TORMEK anticorrosion solution in the water, nothing but the best.  The wheels I have are made with a high density nylon plastic hub, pressed fitted? into a metal ring about 3/16 thick that is coated with CBN. About half, or less the cost of the wheel Vadim used, but they do run very true laterally and horizontal. 

When I contacted TORMEK about my very noisy water tray, even sent them a video, they asked me to ship my TORMEK back to them for evaluation before they could take any action. A very reasonable request but I'd have to shut down my sharpening for a couple weeks before I got my repaired T8 back, or a replacement.. .  I put a small piece of piece of electrical tape on the bottom of the tray on each side where the little lift arms contact the tray and then another strip along each side of the vertical lift slot. The tape had just the right amount of density to totally isolate the contact vibration that was going on.  That was more than a month ago and it's still working great, not a peep out of it.

[RickKrung]

...snip...
When I contacted TORMEK about my very noisy water tray, even sent them a video, they asked me to ship my TORMEK back to them for evaluation before they could take any action. A very reasonable request but I'd have to shut down my sharpening for a couple weeks before I got my repaired T8 back, or a replacement.. .  I put a small piece of piece of electrical tape on the bottom of the tray on each side where the little lift arms contact the tray and then another strip along each side of the vertical lift slot. The tape had just the right amount of density to totally isolate the contact vibration that was going on.  That was more than a month ago and it's still working great, not a peep out of it.

This has been discussed before with several solutions suggested/tried. My solution was similar to yours.  I put a "sliding surface" type tape on the tray, thicker and much more durable than tape.  Mostly works, still vibrates a little, but a slight position adjustment fixes that.

Rick