Grinding wheels for HSS - CBN???

[1018Machine]

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

 

[TorontoBuilder]

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

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

 

[JustaDB]

Huh. Never heard of CBN wheels before.

 

[Arbutus]

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.