User:Sam Paris/sandbox

Grizzly Wet Grinder Template:EquipmentPage

What It's For

The wet grinder is for sharpening tools--chisels, plane blades, gouges and so on. The grinding wheel runs through a trough of water that simultaneously keeps your tool from overheating and protects the wheel from loading with metal particles, preserving its ability to keep grinding. Make sure there is enough water in the reservoir to keep a continuous film of water on the wheel at all times. Effectively, this is power whetstone, so don't use the grinding wheel dry. You'll regret it. So will the next user.

The other wheel is a leather strop. used it to remove the slight burr left after grinding and to polish the tool edge super-sharp. YOU MUST STROP WITH THE WHEEL TURNING AWAY FROM YOU! That way, the razor-sharp steel won't dig into the soft leather wheel. Go ahead and turn the machine around so you're working from the back. It won't mind.

Operation

Move the water reservoir to the upper position, add enough water that there is a continuous film on the wheel while it is turning. The wet wheel is nominally 220 grit, in this state it is good for rough grinding, such as establishing a bevel. Once the rough grinding is done, the conditioning stone is used to convert the outer surface of the wheel to approximately 1000 grit for fine grinding. Removing the burr and final polishing is done with the stropping wheel, a leather-rimmed wheel charged with a compound made with very fine abrasive. The stropping wheel must be turning away from the edge of the tool being sharpened or the tool will dig into and ruin the leather band around the wheel. Discuss use of jigs.

Maintenance

Empty, rinse and refill water reservoir periodically. Sediment on the wheel will reduce its performance. Do not leave the wheel in the water. It will waterlog on the submerged side and go off balance. Leave the tray in the lower position after use.

If the wheel looks loaded with metal filings or is not parallel to the universal support, use the wheel dressing stone to clean it up. Make sure the reservoir is filled, hold the stone crosswise to the wheel rotation and press firmly, using the universal support as a guide.

[manual]