Is there a way to prevent the spacer coming off when swapping grinding wheels?

[flyvert]

As per the subject, is there some neat trick I can apply to prevent the spacer to come off when I swap between grinding wheels?

[John Hancock Sr]

Not really. It does tend to stick to the wheel when you take it off.

[RickKrung]

Yeah, annoying. When I remember to, which is often not, I move the wheel out enough to reach in and touch the spacer to separate it from the wheel and then finish removing the wheel.

[John Hancock Sr]

Yeah, annoying. When I remember to, which is often not, I move the wheel out enough to reach in and touch the spacer to separate it from the wheel and then finish removing the wheel.

Same.

[BPalv]

Same as above... forget to every now and again... still annoying.

[MARC LAVINA]

Same problem here

[Ken S]

I have been closely following this forum since 2009. This posting is the first I have noticed on this issue in that time. The spacer has not changed. The shaft was changed to stainless steel many years ago., as was the conversion to the EZYlock.

Anyone who has experienced a frozen EXYlock (which includes me) would consider a sliding spacer as a minor nuisance. Noticing occasional frozen EZYlock posts over the years, I sent an email to support requesting advice. Support really went the extra mile. They ran tests and discovered that they could get the EZYlock to fail, IF there was no grease on the face of the spacer facing away from the grinding wheel. Putting a thin coating of grease on this face eliminated the failure. Problem solved.

How big of a problem is a sliding spacer? For the majority of Tormek's fifty years, there was only the SG wheel. Even today, with several wheels available, many users still choose to use only the SG, which remains the most versatile wheel. The wheels could be redesigned to incorporate built in spacers. That might solve the problem, but would increase the cost per wheel. How many users would be willing to pay the extra cost?

Ken