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Grinding wheels for HSS - CBN???

1018Machine

1018Machine

Ultra Member
My current grinding wheels are a mess and badly out of balance so I was going to buy new. Upon looking into it I see that CBN wheels are supposed to be the best for grinding HSS tooling.

- Anyone have any hands-on experience with it?
- Is it as good as they say for things like efficiency in heavy shaping?
- How are they for wear?
- I assume I should get an 80 and 180 grit?

Thanks in advance
 
1018Machine said:
My current grinding wheels are a mess and badly out of balance so I was going to buy new. Upon looking into it I see that CBN wheels are supposed to be the best for grinding HSS tooling.

- Anyone have any hands-on experience with it?
- Is it as good as they say for things like efficiency in heavy shaping?
- How are they for wear?
- I assume I should get an 80 and 180 grit?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
I have multiple CBN wheels in multiple profiles and grits for my HSS wood lathe tools.

Mine are metal bonded and there is no dressing of the wheel. I found the cheaper one to not be as true as the expensive name brand wonderwheels.

I'd expect a resin bonded wheel to be very good for HSS metal lathe tooling. They can hog off material and overheat though so something to be mindful of
 
If you want a razor edge, try a low speed water wheel like the Tormek after general grinding. But yes the fine CBN wheels do a very good job. I would suggest putting a fine CBN on one side and a coarser diamond wheel on the other. The diamond cuts faster and is more durable than the CBN so I use it for the initial shaping. The cheaper wheels are grit pressed into a steel rim and they work quite well. As @TorontoBuilder says, some are less than perfectly round.

The abrasive depth on the Asian CBN wheels is quite thin but should last for a couple of years in normal use.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

The wheels I was looking at are from Lee valley so, not sure on the quality but they usually sell good products.

@Arbutus you think a diamond wheel for roughing is better then?
 
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