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I looked at my SB-250 on the T7. Mine seems to be true both on the inner and outer surfaces.

I recently trued my Norton 3x wheel I use on the Tormek. I had allowed a groove to form around 1/16" (2mm) deep. (no excuses) I used a grinding wheel dressing stick. It did a very adequate job. It is 6" long, x 1" x 1" (150mmx25mmx25mm) and resembles a gray cinderblock. I believe a Norton Norbide stick might have done a better job, but I already had the dressing stick.

I don't know if the dressing stick is hard enough to work with the SB wheel. You could set the dressing stick on the housing with or without the universal support pulled in close for added support. I would put some tape down first to protect the paint on the housing and the universal support chrome. Such lightly at first to see how it cuts.

A second possibility would be to use a diamond T dresser.

I have not tried either of these on the SB, but both work with the Norton wheels. Good luck and please keep us posted.

Ken

Ken, You ARE a true asset to this community without a doubt. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your thoughts and help here. 

I am not quite following the advice about the use of a dressing stick though. Could you please share some pics perhaps to get me thinking in the right direction and help me better understand how you fix your Norton wheels?

I had a 'feeling' that if I asked you guys for help that I would get expert advice and I am certainly NOT disappointed! 

I do not know of any way to true the inside side, but you can true the outside with your truing tool.  Jet makes a right angle universal support adapter and you can use it to run the TT on the outside of the wheel.

I understand exactly what you are talking about and can 'see' it working on the outside of the wheel after playing with it some.

That side of the wheel has a recess that will allow the trueing tool rotating knob someplace to be while the other side of the wheel is flat and that turning wheel / knob gets in the way (would bump the stone before the diamond button)...



Picture shows the diamond button touching the wheel and the turning knob inside the recess with a little room to spare.


I VERY much appreciate your time and thoughts here friend. Words can't express my gratitude for your help and experience. 

I need to get that Jet part and figure out how to get the knob off of the trueing tool without breaking it... 

I would contact your national importer or Tormek and ask for a replacement stone. Tormek wants satisfied customers and you should not have to deal with a problem stone right out of the box. You can locate your national importer from the list of dealers on tormek.com. The email for support for Tormek in Sweden is support.tormek.se.  Stig is in charge of the department; you should receive a prompt reply.

Ken

That will not help me learn how to 'true' the sides of my stones...

Also wont help me learn what is considered 'normal' runout on the Tormek stones...

I refuse to believe that I am alone here in using the 'sides' of my Tormek stones.

My hope was to learn how to true up what I HAVE and keep on moving forward and NOT to be a pain on someones CS department.

I recently went to use my new SB250 stone and want to ask a few questions about the 'out of the box' trueness that you guys see with your new stones.

When looking at the front of my Tormek while the stone is spinning it is dead flat on the top and right side surfaces. Flat enough that it is not worth getting out any tools to measure runout... 

The left side surface of the stone is jacked beyond belief and is going to need a lot of work to make true. It has a VERY noticeable wobble on that side that makes using it for flattening darn near impossible as it is.

My factory Tormek stone was (and is) perfect on ALL sides which leads me to think that this SB250 is not 'normal' for a new and 'out of the box' Tormek stone.

FWIW - I do know how to properly change stones and did remove and reinstall a few times whilst checking for errors along the way... This is not an improper installation issue. The left side of the stone is simply not even close to being true as you get closer to the outside edge of it. The center must be right as rotating the stone 180deg changes nothing - The left side still wobbles like hell towards the outside (away from the center) while the entire right side of the stone rotates perfectly flat to the eye no matter how the stone is turned on the shaft... Right side is true to the point that it does not 'need' any sort of measuring or trueing at all no matter what gets rotated... Smooth as glass it is. 

If I take measurements on the left side of the stone where it comes closest to the frame of the machine as it turns I get measurements like this:






I used simple feeler gauges between the stone and the frame of the machine on that left side to show what is obvious to the eye as the wheel turns while in use. Thickness of feeler gauges was measured with a good micrometer.


Can you guys share some experience here and offer any advice or experience pertaining to how you go about 'trueing' the sides of your stones?

What do YOU see when first using a NEW Tormek stone as far as trueness is concerned?


This particular stone will be closer to 1 and 15/16 (or less) when it is 'correct'. As it sits now it is 2" at the widest (and a shy 1 and 15/16" at the min) but still needs a good bit removed from the left to be correct...

My factory stone is perfect and runs true (to the eye and feel) everywhere. Not worth measuring any runout on it at all in my opinion. This SB250 cost me more than the factory stone would have and runs warped on one side...

Snip...

"Factory new" is a good starting point for Tormek sharpening, but only the starting point.

Ken

Very well said. 

I use MY Tormek for when I want 'better' than factory new...

[use]

Your point is well taken SADW.

Not all repair work is done under warranty, and we can give helpful advice. I remember the previous post and will ask Stig to clarify the warranty transferance question.

I think the best course of action for this topic is to mercifully remove it. I will do so in a few days after the warranty question is settled.

Ken

Any topics related to Tormek 'problems' or issues need to stay so people that actually use the 'search' button can more quickly learn how to fix their machine and get back up and running.

I came here tonight to do a 'search' and see if others had any issues with very hot motors. The search does not work for anyone if the thread about that gets deleted... 

I had the exact same thing happen, maybe not in the same time frame but the same result. It became egg shaped. The only cure is to use the diamond dressing tool to restore the round shape. Start with the lightest cut needed to attack the "bulge". From there you just keep the diamond cutter going into the stone until you ultimately make a cut that goes all the way around the stone. You are of course going to remove an amount equivalent to the the height of the "bulge". No alternative so just do it.

How does a stone become 'egg shaped' like that? What caused your issue?

[I have a second separate leather honing wheel which I use with valve grinding compound. it does not leave quite as high a polish as the Tormek honing compound, However, it does cut more quickly. I still use the standard honing compound, but have occasionally found uses for the valve grinding compound.]

On a more serious note, I suspect you don't know what the former owner may have used with the leather honing wheel. Buying a Tormek and then cheaping out on honing compound seems foolish to me, but I am sure it happens. Also, the former owner, like me, may have used other compounds hoping for different results. in my case, I have a second separate leather honing wheel which I use with valve grinding compound. it does not leave quite as high a polish as the Tormek honing compound, However, it does cut more quickly. I still use the standard honing compound, but have occasionally found uses for the valve grinding compound.

I agree with everything you said - I just bolded the one part because I think it is VERY important to note.

People change stones to get a different finish or at a different speed in the same way that you suggest changing honing wheels / compounds and they never think twice about it because they know it 'works' for them.

Your advice here is spot on in my opinion. ESPECIALLY if one is using any sort of Tormek jig on the honing side to keep the angle 'correct'. When sharpening something like a 'chisel' per say with a fixed angle being held in a jig - You get to near 'mirror reflection' faster if you can swap out wheels on the honing side for different grits of compound. This swap takes only seconds on a Tormek and is infinitely faster (and cheaper in the long run) than properly cleaning an existing wheel and then re-loading it with a different grit compound.

Interesting topic. Good observation about sticking the anglemaster, OW. I have not experienced the hum, but will keep the suggestions in mind should it occur.

One of the appealing things about working with the Tormek is its quietness. This quietness allows us to concentrate on the sound feedback of the grinding itself. Our senses can teach us a lot about working with the Tormek.

I believe Yogi Bera quipped, "We can see a lot by looking."

Ken

If using your Tormek on a proper surface - You likely never will experience any hum or serious vibration.

When I use mine on a 'poor' work surface is the only time that I have issues with vibration. I blame myself for that and not the machine.

Completely agree with you about the quietness of the Tormek.

I may respectfully differ with some of our members in that I believe products which do not compete directly with Tormek and are beneficial to the forum and Tormek usage should be included on the forum. Reason, both in selection and amount, should prevail.

That confused the heck out of me. 



Are you saying that I should NOT talk about using my Grizzly Dry Grinder to quickly iron the dents out before moving on to the Tormek for real 'sharpening' or are you saying that I 'should' talk about the Grizzly???

What you experienced was vibration and they can do that at times depending on the surface used and what is actually on the machine at the time.

When I want mine dead quiet - I do NOT stick the angle jig to the machine. That alone can cause noise that would otherwise not be there. 

got there in the end hope it was worth it

That was some awesome work you did there! 

At about $100 to sharpen 4 20" blades professionally,

You pay some extremely high prices for that work...

That is a higher price than a NEW set of 4, 20" china blades from Grizzly... Or for 80.00 more than what you pay for a sharpening you can buy a VERY nice (and new) set of Japanese 20" planer blades (set of 4).

A professional sharpening should be more in the range of 25 to 40 USDollars but certainly not anywhere near a hundred.

I happen to think a new Tormek user who is also inexperienced in sharpening is best served with a new machine. The learning curve is hard enough without having to contend with possible problems from an older machine.

Agree.

Would like to add that the newer kits also come with darn near everything that one would 'need' for regular and accurate stone maintenance and angle setting.

The Taiwanese versions do NOT include these sort of items last time I checked.

[Fineline, have you checked the voltage at the outlet where you plug in your Tormek? See what the voltage is, especially under load. It could be that there is an issue with the wiring in your house, or with the voltage being supplied to your house.]

Fineline, have you checked the voltage at the outlet where you plug in your Tormek? See what the voltage is, especially under load. It could be that there is an issue with the wiring in your house, or with the voltage being supplied to your house. I would check simple things first like the outlet itself and the circuit breaker itself. Many times these parts wear out under heavy use and are just fine until you use them for heavy duty service. They are easy and inexpensive to replace.

Good advice.

It could also be that the guy was running his Tormek on an already overloaded circuit and killed it that way.

If the OP had invested in a cheap 'Kill-A-Watt' meter he could have very quickly ruled out any issues related to his power supply. Most guys never think to check until AFTER they have killed their motors.