Diamonds are a man's best friend

[Evan]

For those who don't know my wife is the general manager of an industrial abrasives company. Sometimes she bring home goodies for me. She gave me a good one this week. It's a ten inch diamond wheel. It is worn out only on the rim but both side faces are unused. The customer didn't want it and these are not recycled so now I have it.

The main problem is I don't have anything to spin it with. The only motor that I have that would handle this is the 3hp idler for my rotary converter and I would have to completely change how the starting circuit works to spin this up. It's not aluminum core but steel and weighs a lot. What do I do with this?

Ideas?

[kf1002002]

I have a diamond rock saw about 10" dia which is run by a 1/4 hp motor quite nicely. It is belted down to what looks to me like a few hundred rpm and runs in cutting oil which may make a difference. The diamonds are only on the rim and for about 1/4" in. It seems to me like you should be able to make something useful of yours if you don't try to run it like a high speed grinder. Your comment that the diamonds are worn off the rim puzzles me. Normally on these saws the rim with its diamonds wears down until there is nothing left.

Ken

[darryl]

Do you have one of those el cheapo belt/disc sanders? If so, you may not have a lot of faith in the disc part. Maybe mount this wheel in its place, making the required changes to the table to acommodate. Could be the speed is too high though to properly use the diamond wheel.

Something to consider probably is what you would be sharpening with it. From what I've gathered, it would be good for HSS, etc, if the speed weren't too high.

Looks to me like a rock solid home brew drill bit sharpener project. Use a belt reduction drive from a washing machine motor or similar, and make your own spindle/bearing assy to mount the wheel on.

[lenord]

Evan,

I have a NEW, unused, 2 hp motor you are welcome to for shipping cost from Texas. It's been sitting in my shop for nearly a year now. It's the "farm duty" warranty motor I got to replace the first one in my mill.
I dunno if it's practical for you up there......or even suitable for your needs.


Lenord

[LarryinLV]

Chop saws and table saws run 10" blades routinely.

I'll bet with an old direct drive bench table saw, you could build a pretty useful table mounted diamond dresser.

[Alistair Hosie]

does it need to run as fast as a chop saw I would have thought not??? Alistair ps good wife Evan give her an extra kiss from me and if she comes across say a big bag od 2kt stones for her new pal in Scotland I'll give her a kiss myself Alistair

[Evan]

This wheel is intended to run 3600 rpm. That's why it is steel. The reason it is only worn on the outer rim is that it is a profile wheel which you can't see in the photo. The customer couldn't use the sides in the machine he had it on. I have a 10" radial arm saw I could put it on but I think the rpm is too high. Besides, what ever turns it has to have enough torque to get it up to speed before the start winding burns out. It's really heavy. It would be great for sharpening carbide but not HSS. HSS eats diamond for lunch because it dissolves it.

I'm afraid shipping a 2hp motor here from Texas would cost more than it's worth and my sister isn't coming up to visit as far as I know. Thanks for the offer Lenord.

You may have the chance sometime Alistair. One of these days we are going to visit relatives in Scotland.

[Alistair Hosie]

Well Evan my home would be your home when you come needless to say when I say your I mean both of you . Alistair

[Rustybolt]

How much does it weigh? How much does the biggest chuck on your SB weigh? My choice would be to mount it horizontally with a 2:1 belt drive. I think that would offer more sharpening options.

[Evan]

Yes, I was thinking the same. Mount it horizontal almost flush with a flat surround and turn it slow with a geared down motor (or belted). If it is run slow then it can be used with coolant to sharpen steel as well as carbide because the action of steel dissolving the diamond is temperature dependent. I could put a tub under the wheel to catch coolant with a shaft coming up through a bushing. A flat surface around it would allow for all sorts of interesting jigs to be used to present toolbits to the wheel easily.

Now I just need to figure out a drive system. I have plenty of small motors laying around.