Re-Pointing Diamond Nib

[Alistair Hosie]

I too say put it out to rest and buy a new one. I have bought several working machines with diamond wheels bonded onto a nice brass or aluminium back. They always seem to come as bald as the tips of mr Bryners highly buffed army boots. Anyway I have been told this still ok which puzzles me I just bought the very best I could on the net. The ones I am describing are purely to be used for tungsten tips for lathe tools etc and the machine has a nice adjustable table, and is used on the face rim about 1 inch or so. Alistair

[reggie_obe]

I too say put it out to rest and buy a new one. I have bought several working machines with diamond wheels bonded onto a nice brass or aluminium back. They always seem to come as bald as the tips of mr Bryners highly buffed army boots. Anyway I have been told this still ok which puzzles me I just bought the very best I could on the net. The ones I am describing are purely to be used for tungsten tips for lathe tools etc and the machine has a nice adjustable table, and is used on the face rim about 1 inch or so. Alistair

Diamond nib or diamond dressing point for dressing or shaping a grinding wheel, not a diamond wheel.

[JoeLee]

I too say put it out to rest and buy a new one. I have bought several working machines with diamond wheels bonded onto a nice brass or aluminium back. They always seem to come as bald as the tips of mr Bryners highly buffed army boots. Anyway I have been told this still ok which puzzles me I just bought the very best I could on the net. The ones I am describing are purely to be used for tungsten tips for lathe tools etc and the machine has a nice adjustable table, and is used on the face rim about 1 inch or so. Alistair

Hello Alistair............ where are you???? Were here to help!!!

JL...................

[JoeLee]

A dull diamond will work for most applications, but there are times when a sharp diamond is required. Ever try dressing a .020" wide wheel on the side with a dull diamond? Sharp diamonds are also better for getting a really sharp corner on a wheel, and they will also give a more aggressive dress for cooler roughing.

I don't consider diamonds cheap, at least from domestic sources. I just bought some 3/8" shank one carat diamonds from China on ebay, and they seem quite nice. The shanks wouldn't fit in my holders, though. They were about .015 oversize, but easy enough to turn down. At $3 a piece, a bargain.

The only .020 thick wheel I've ever seen was for a Dremel tool, and I think they are .025.
How or for what reason would you want to dress the side of such a thin wheel??? I would think being so thin it would deflect off the sharpest diamond nib or just frag.

JL............

[Tim The Grim]

Back in the days before Wire EDM, form grinding was the only way. We had dozens and dozens of wheels with various radii and dressed down widths hanging on peg board hooks so there was always one that just needed a touch up to be ready for use. It could take 3 different nibs to prep a wheel from new. A rough used one, a decently sharp one and the fine phono point in an “ angle tangent to radius” J&S dresser to finish the contour. Norton wheels were the choice for fine work.
Back in the 70s/80s industrial diamond tech wasn’t what we have today and nibs were more costly.
That’s why we used to repair them. Not so today.

.020 ? Back in ‘81 I built a washer die. .044 OD with a .012x.018 rectangle hole through it. .002 thick Lead/Tin/Silver. It soldered chips to a circuit board before wave solder technology took over. Tape has caused these to corrode a little. The green line is on a piece of notebook paper.

[MushCreek]

Back in the day we did lots of form grinding building connector molds. Yes, we dressed wheels down to less than .020. Just enough depth to grind the detail, though, not the whole wheel. We also had a twin dresser that advanced two diamonds, one on each side to dress very thin wheels. Still needed really sharp diamonds or the wheel would just explode.