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dressing a cutoff wheel

Started by Dan_Shade, November 17, 2006, 09:26:15 PM

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Dan_Shade

is it common practice to dress a 14" cutoff wheel to keep it round?
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Don_Papenburg

You mean a carborundunum abrasive cut off wheel ?  I just push it into the next cut and it self dresses  . Besides that  they never last me long enough to worry about roundness.
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

Dan_Shade

I was cutting 3"x3"x.25" tubing, it did a number on a wheel, it was vibrating more and more.... so I changed it, then I made it through 2 more cuts, then I swapped it out again, you can see chunks gone out of the wheel. 

I figured I may be able to make it "cut like new" if I dress it up with a stone...

the wheels are dewalt wheels 7/64x14"
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Don_Papenburg

Are you free handing the cuts? By that I mean not clamping the tube so you can make a cut that the saw was not designed to make. thatr is the only way that I have knocked out chunks , the metal moves to much for the blade removing chuncks and shortening their alread short life .  I have had good luck with the Dewalt blades.
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

Furby

I get a slightly tappered cut if I push it into the cut too hard.
The one that I'm missing chunks out of, I damaged trying to cut geodes open. ::) ::)
It still cuts steel, but if I have a heavy or important cut I plan to swap it out.

Brian_Rhoad

Don't use a blade with big chunks missing out of it. Just running the saw (not cutting) could cause the blade to fly apart. It probably has cracks that you can't see. Tapered cuts are caused by over working the blade. Don't push as hard on the saw, let the blade do the work. The blade will last longer and your cuts will be straighter.

Dan_Shade

define "big chunk"

it's in a dewalt saw, the tubing was clamped.  the cuts ended up square, at least pretty close to it...

3" tubing is a lot harder to saw through than smaller stuff...  I figure that had something to do with the blades going out of round a little bit.  the chunk missing in the one is probably 3/32 deep or so
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

CHARLIE

I hope you are wearing safety glasses! :o  Why not use a bandsaw with a metal cutting blade along with some cutting oil or Rust Reaper to keep the blade lubed?
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

SPIKER

First off what I'm going to say many won't like and the safety experts will strongly dissagree BUT I do have a lot of experiance using these wheels...  also  I've seen what can happen if not used right...  NOW use following advice slowly and carefully..

we used to have to cut using them exclusivly in an industrial fab place, not very efficient and yes they do need dressing on occosion.   the missing chunks are a bad thing but can be worked out .   it sounds like you are applying too much pressure to the downward force on the blade in contact with the steel.

there should be a slightly noticeable drag on the motor when cutting and a continous stream of sparks out the back.   the metal should not heat up too much , if it starts glowing the blade is wearing not cutting.   that menas the edge has built up a crust and is basically melting the steel surface not cutting it.   to remidy this you need to change up the saw pressure and or use a sccarificial hunk of steel to break thorugh the steel melt that is clogging the blade cutting edge.   

always USE and Have handy a FACE SHEILD & GLOVES WHEN RUNNING ONE.

1. use a slight lift & bump back down onto the cutting material to break through the edge slightly while the blade is running.   very little pressure is needed usually to cut and if too much is applied it will melt steel to it.   breaking through is only way to safely continue using the blade.  ( Aluminum is terriable to cut with one of these blades so you know.   usually sawing it is much better.)
2. lift blade and use a hunk of flat stock to tap onto edge slightly to freee the edge up

the broken edge is a concern only in the fact that the edge should be fully round, if it starts viberating bad the blade is getting consentric (out of round) and you will need to cut with it differently lift the blade off the metal slightly so that only the high spot is hitting the steel material on its path.   and slowly bring wheel back into round as you cut.   

all of this comes with lots of experiance but any LARGE missing chunks the blade is not safe to use and if you have small missing hunks then you have to look it over before attempting to re-use...   cracks breaks chuips all can fragment and make one heck of a mess.   we have a garage door with a chunck of blade wihch is sticking through the outside of the door, it went clear through the door and stuck out the other side is shapped like an axe head and is about 12" edge to edge and 4~5" at the wide side.!   this is a fully isulade STEEL door!!!!   

these are not something to mess with, always keep you're blade gaurds in place as well as keeping you body out of the plane of the blade incase it comes appart...

mark M
I'm looking for help all the shrinks have given up on me :o

Dan_Shade

That's how I use it Mark, I try to keep enough down pressure to keep the blade from "gumming up". 

I also employ the light bump and let off mainly when finishing the cut, I am guessing this is what caused my wheel to go out of round.

I would have used a band saw, Charlie, but I have access to a cutoff saw, not a bandsaw!  I'd have used the woodmizer, but... well, no I wouldn't have....
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

scgargoyle

You can't be careful with those things! You can dress them gently with one of those dressing sticks- usually 1" square and 6" or so long. Along w/ the previous advice, check to make sure it is tight- they sometimes will get loose and jump around. Wear all the protective gear, and stand to one side a bit. You don't want any important body parts in line w/ that wheel if it goes. I work w/ grinding and cut-off wheels every day, and they can be safe if you take all the proper precautions. Plan on a change of underwear if you blow one, though!
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

Don_Papenburg

One other thing to check is the pilot hole . Is it too big for the pilot if it is use a spacer to keepp the wheel centered.
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

Tom

Any of those spinning grinding wheels will hurt you.  I know of two people, first hand.  One lost a thumb when the wheel on his side-grinder came apart.   One had his hand torn open real bad when a bench grinder wheel came apart.  It also bruised his torso pretty bad.  He was lucky that his head wasn't in the line of fire.

Woodmizer is very specific about the use of the proper wheel on their sharpener.  It turns at a higher RPM than most sharpeners, apparently, and the fear is that a stone without the proper rating will be mounted and it will come apart.

One of my old-timer friends, now deceased, suffered hand injuries when he decided that his grinder was incapable of holding a true edge, so he mounted the stone on his table saw.  He said that he turned it on and it never really came up to speed before there were pieces of it flying everywhere.  Some punctured his bare arms, but the most impressive were the ones that impaled themselves in the ceiling and walls.

Don't take any of those spinning wheels for granted.

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