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Maintenance of CBN wheels

I scrub mine with a wire brush and WD-40. Probably not optimal but it helps clean them and improves performance for me. Curious what others do/use to accomplish the same thing.
 
The expected life for a CBN wheel is about 5 years of production work. Stuart Batty made that comment once, and I do agree with that. They will not last forever if you are a production turner. They can be cleaned up some, which is necessary if you turn a lot of sloppy wet wood. Dave Schweitzer said he would soak his in Simple Green cleaning solution for a while, then hit with a wire brush. I do apply a drop or two of the Trend Lapping fluid to the bevel of my scrapers mostly, and then sharpen. If I apply to the wheel, I get a racing stripe down my front.... There are hard aluminum oxide sticks that some sell for 'cleaning' your wheels. Mostly they make a lot of dust. If your wheels have loaded up with softer metals, you can remove that by sharpening your scrapers. Again, the lapping fluid helps. I did intentionally load up a very old set of wheels with aluminum, copper, brass, and soft steel just to see what would happen. Took a month to get all of the softer metals off, but it did come off, and that was just with sharpening the scrapers. The gouges didn't seem to work as well for removing the build up. The wheels cut very fast for 6 or so months, again, depending on how often you turn and sharpen. They settle in for a couple of years, and then, eventually they will need to be replaced. They do wear out. Diamond is forever, at least pretty much so, but you need slow speed wheels like the Tradesman grinder from Canada or a Tormek and clones. The coarsest wheel they make for the Tormek is 360 grit.

robo hippy
 
I’ve always wondered if it would make sense to reverse the wheels after some time, assuming the hubs are symmetrical in them. Let the other side of the particles face the tool.
 
First off I am not a production turner. I bought my first CBN wheel at an AAW symposium somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years ago from a guy from Austria. 180 grit and it has only sharpened Thompson tools. It still looks and sharpens like the day I put it on the grinder. I added a 80 grit CBN a number of years later and it is like the other, looks brand new. I think a normal turner will never have to worry about wearing out a CBN wheel.
 
Bill, would that have been in San Jose? The Optigrind wheel? I got one there also. Think I retired it some time ago, and Cindy Drozda sells them now.

As for Ken's video, there are 2 kinds of build up on CBN wheels. One is gunk from turning green wood. The other is metal build up from grinding softer metals. For me, the best way to remove metal build up, is with an M42 or V10 scraper, and multiple applications. I guess a drill bit would work as well. I don't have any bits that I would sacrifice for that. I did try that slick stick, and think it works better on the bandsaw blades. The consistency is too thick. Hmm, might work on the soles of my hand planes..... The gunk from green wood would probably be best removed by using soap or paint thinner. Some do use oven cleaner, kind of what is done to remove build up on table saw blades. I would be wary of using window clearer if it has ammonia in it. I have read that it should not be used on diamond lapping plates because it can mess with the electro bonding material of the diamonds. Not sure though.

robo hippy
 
For green wood gunk, there are a variety of hardware store solvents that will clean that off before resharpening. Soft metals? I use the CBN wheel only for tool sharpening, anything else goes to either another grinder or to a belt sander.
 
Lou Jacobs said:
I’ve always wondered if it would make sense to reverse the wheels after some time, assuming the hubs are symmetrical in them. Let the other side of the particles face the tool.
Click to expand...
If you take the wheel off one side of the grinder and put it on the other, with the same side facing out, it will spin in the opposite direction.
 
I did try the slick stick on the bottoms of my hand planes. Made me think of Chevy Chase in one of his Christmas movies where he put something on the bottom of the snow saucer and it went at almost light speed. I liked it better than the paste wax I have been using. Very light touch and slight rag buff.

robo hippy
 
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