What's new
What's new

Diamond Dresser - Regular Surface Grinder

Cphockey16

Plastic
Joined
May 28, 2020
Hey guys. Couldn't find a thread that matches exactly with what I want to ask so I started a new one.

I'm a toolmaker's apprentice. About a 1.5 years in to my apprenticeship. My boss wants me to get some experience on the surface grinder.

I was wondering, what do you guys use for your diamond holders for dressing the wheel? I've seen some different varieties. I'd love to see some pictures if you guys have them, ideally something I can make on the Bridgeport. I'll probably use a 1/2 shank single point diamond. I hear 12° is ideal. What do you guys think?

Thanks fellas.
 
Not much of a project, square block, drilled angle hole and a set screw. Draw up some plans for a nice grinding vise, angle plates with some steps and tapped/clearance holes to mount up some 123 blocks or something
 
1 1/2" x 1" x 3 1/2" drill a 3/8 hole near one end at the 1 1/2" and the 1" side at 15* angle (all ballpark/what bar stock you have handy is ok),
CRS is fine for this. skim grind the sides to make them flat.

Drill and tap a 10-24 0r 10-32 set screw hole to hold a 3/8 diamond. Turn the diamond to find a sharp facet often.

The worst common error is bringing a running wheel into a high place on a part, so be careful and try to pass over traveling the fresh part traveling toward the right, so you can spark the part with not sucking it under. Next error is grinding too fast and heat-burning the part, so take your time and travel off the part at the ends..A hand spray bottle of coolant can be a job saver, and a brush to sweep most of the grits off the chuck
Another beginner error is not being careful with edge burrs that grinding makes, have a hone or the like and give attention to the edges.
.
Buy a bargain 123block set, have 2 6" C clamps, have an angle plate and a V block with a clamp...and a surface gauge with an indicator so to check the squareness of a part. have some blocks to block in a part on the Go-side(where it would go)

Become a caring grinder hand and you will become a valuable asset to your job.
The biggest trick is to take your time and think about what you are doing...and don't get close to size when a part is hot or even warm.
 
An angle plate makes a very good vise. A side of a 123 block can be the set the part on place with the part held with two clamps. Easy to take part on and off. Set in the proper place one can measure the part with not taking it from the set-up. Set-on and off is very accurate.

Very often a vise will tilt a part because the moving jaw has to move and so has a little clearance at the bottom side. Vise holding a part and grinding two sides and your squareness is destroyed and you may not have enough stock to get back to square.

Not uncommon to depth mic a part setting on the chuck, but this is often poor method of measure, one is lucky to get better than .001 or so,
 
I could never see the point of angling the dresser back by 15°-20° etc. I just stuck the dresser vertically in a block of steel and then presented it to the wheel on the left hand side (clockwise rotation).
 
I could never see the point of angling the dresser back by 15°-20° etc. I just stuck the dresser vertically in a block of steel and then presented it to the wheel on the left hand side (clockwise rotation).

Agree that can be done and is Ok, but may not give a very pointed facet as the diamond wears to having flats.

A rounded diamond tends to crush off wore grits.. an angle of 10 to 25* seems to give better facets IMHO.
 
I got tired of no one else turning the diamond so I knurled a piece of 2" round stock and put the pin vertical. Now it never goes back on the same way.
Haven't seen any drawbacks and actually seems better than a diamond that seldom was turned.
I also set it at 2" high so I know where it is relative to the part I am grinding for redressing.

dave
 
I like the angled dresser better too. It does seem to keep the diamond sharper and freer cutting. If you only occasionally grind, it probably doesn't matter. If you grind enough to have to replace diamonds it helps prolong the diamond life and keeps the wheel cutting just that little bit freer.
 
That was the point of my dumb comment. If the dresser is vertical, but touching the wheel at the 7 'o' clock position (for example), then it's the same angle as a 30° angled dresser at the 6 'o' clock position.

I'll probably have to change my mind if I get a DRO on the grinder, but at the moment, it's all about 'creep up on it by eye'!
 
I am fairly proud of this design I did.

20200529_074922.jpg

Think I shared before, but here it is again. Never really "finished" it, just made it up to get some work done (I know the grind is crappy, but functional). I trigged out the hole locations so the bolted on piece clocks in every 10 degrees on the angle plate. One side is ground parallel to the dowels, and the other side is at 5deg, so you can effectively hit 5-45deg in 5 deg increments. I also made a 30deg V block to fit the angle plate, with a c'sunk hole in the middle to grind shear on punches, no 'hard' stops for that, but can basically set any angle you want with a protractor (or a small sine bar if accuracy needed).
 
I am fairly proud of this design I did.

View attachment 306561

Think I shared before, but here it is again. Never really "finished" it, just made it up to get some work done (I know the grind is crappy, but functional). I trigged out the hole locations so the bolted on piece clocks in every 10 degrees on the angle plate. One side is ground parallel to the dowels, and the other side is at 5deg, so you can effectively hit 5-45deg in 5 deg increments. I also made a 30deg V block to fit the angle plate, with a c'sunk hole in the middle to grind shear on punches, no 'hard' stops for that, but can basically set any angle you want with a protractor (or a small sine bar if accuracy needed).[/QUOTE

Mike,
I don't think the grind is crappy. Likely a clamped something holds better with that grind and with that wavy grind any wear will be seen more easily. Important is that it is dead square at all sides.
Good also that it is taller than wide so a greater variety of part sizes can be clamped to with parts setting on 123 blocked or the like.
I have gun blued some gauges and fixtures, with that one can see the wear pettern.
Buck

Q: is it an angle plate, or a block?
 
For new guys to grinding:

When you clamp a part to a block or angle plate you shim it up, well off the chuck so the chucks magnetism does not influence how it sets.

and you try to set parts at different places about the chuck so not wearing a low place at bump-rail-center.
 
I got tired of no one else turning the diamond so I knurled a piece of 2" round stock and put the pin vertical. Now it never goes back on the same way.
Haven't seen any drawbacks and actually seems better than a diamond that seldom was turned.
I also set it at 2" high so I know where it is relative to the part I am grinding for redressing.

dave

I started doing sorta this 40 years ago. No real need to knurl the holder, and made a couple of holders, 2" tall and 4" tall to save cranking the wheel up / down so much. Keeps diamond sharper, and they last literally for years!
 
This is what I ended up going with. Basically just copied one that one of our grinder hands had. We'll see how I like it, might whip something else up.

Thanks guys!
 

Attachments

  • 1607361560411934565206219706360.jpg
    1607361560411934565206219706360.jpg
    87.5 KB · Views: 111
That was the point of my dumb comment. If the dresser is vertical, but touching the wheel at the 7 'o' clock position (for example), then it's the same angle as a 30° angled dresser at the 6 'o' clock position.

I'll probably have to change my mind if I get a DRO on the grinder, but at the moment, it's all about 'creep up on it by eye'!

It might be a finer point, but when you dress a wheel it doesn't come out round. You're also correcting position errors due to vibration from out-of-balance conditions. That doesn't work correctly unless the diamond is at the same location as the part being ground, IOW the bottom of the wheel. I like my wheels very carefully balanced, so it's less of an issue, but still one to be aware of. Best plan is still the dresser at an angle and rotated every now and then.
 
I can't add to what you guys already threw out, so I'll go off on a tangent.
Have your boss get you a Norbide stick. Very handy to stone a radius or dish the side of a wheel.
 
I can't add to what you guys already threw out, so I'll go off on a tangent.
Have your boss get you a Norbide stick. Very handy to stone a radius or dish the side of a wheel.

One can block in a Norbide stick long way on a surface grinder and with long travel only (no cross)grind one side with a diamond wheel to place a straight line groves pattern on the Norbide (a 120 gt wheel is good for this). This makes a very good de-burr stone.
Norbide can be diamond ground to a radius or shape, and then be a special plunge dresser for AO wheels.
 








 
Back
Top