Grinders

[buster]

Is sharpening your tools on a grinder a messy operation. Just curious as to whether I should keep that operation outside. Thanks again for all the help with my dumb questions.

[buster]

Also was wondering what grit wheels everyone uses to sharpen their lathe tools. Hopefully the ones that came with it are the correct ones.

[LexKY_Pipe]

I would grind tools in a shop and not the kitchen if that's what you mean.

And I use the stock wheels that came with mine to sharpen lathe tools.

[LatakiaLover]

Most power tools these days have exhaust ports designed for vacuum hose attachment. Especially recommended for grinders. Loose metal filings "travel" easily, and do all sorts of unwelcome things like cut carpet fibers, rust instantly, get onto polishing cloths and wheels, enter other machine's cooling vents, etc.

[JHowell]

Sorry to be the board safety rep, but be careful hooking a grinder to a vacuum. Sparks + (air + suspended dust) = BOOM, or can. Apparently some people (not pipe makers that I know of) have had alarming experiences with their dust collectors after mixing materials on the grinder. All wood, no problem. All steel, no problem. All aluminum, no problem. Mixed wood and steel or aluminum and steel, problem.

[LatakiaLover]

Jack -- Indeed. I will have to do a bit of research. See if the way I'm doing things presents a hazard, then. Thanks for the heads-up.

[ckr]

usually the fine white, then dress them with on a diamond stone. The diamond stone will keep them reletively sharp but eventually they will touch the grinder again.

[KurtHuhn]

Being the resident counter-culture curmudgen, I sharpen mine on one of my belt grinders.

It's the Delta 1x42, and I use a 320-grit Zirconia-Alumina belt for the job. I tilt the table to the angle I want and just follow the arc of the grind. For skews and such, I just freehand the grind. It doesn't take too much practice, and is over almost before it begins.

The reason I use the belt grinder is simply because I'm more comfortable with it. No other real reason.

And please *please* follow Jack's advice. I don't ever put a dust collector on the grinders when grinding metal - for that exact reason. Instead, I hang a can full of soapy water below the contact area, right in the stream of sparks. The soap breaks the surface tension and allows the metal to sink. For the occasional sharpening of a lathe tool, you won't have to worry about going to that length, just be careful where your sparks are going.

[hazmat]

Being the resident counter-culture curmudgen, I sharpen mine on one of my belt grinders.

Kurt.. are you even old enough to be a curmudgeon?

[LatakiaLover]

Ahhh... Now I get it. (Because of my arrangement, it didn't occur to me.) Kurt---it's simply sparks igniting what's in the collector that Jack was talking about, not the mixing of substances per se. I was scratching my head trying to come up with sort of hypergolic scenario for the contents of the container.

In my set-up, each station has a dedicated tube that's permanently installed under/over a long bench. The end of each tube is then available switchboard style to a monster shop vac. The distance from tool to container is almost 20 feet. No tool-steel-on-a-fine-wheel-sized spark can travel anywhere close to that far, and the filings are LONG since stone cold by the time they reach the hopper. There are some curves to be negotiated, too.

Where's there's heavy grinding of mild steel and a short hose---the typical garage/weekender situation---there'd definitely be some risk, I'd imagine.

[KurtHuhn]

Being the resident counter-culture curmudgen, I sharpen mine on one of my belt grinders.

Kurt.. are you even old enough to be a curmudgeon?

I was *BORN* a curmudgeon.

[Frank]

Instead, I hang a can full of soapy water below the contact area, right in the stream of sparks. The soap breaks the surface tension and allows the metal to sink.

Don't you just hate it when the item gets away from you, dropping into the bucket, and you have to stick your hand into the primieval ooze at the bottom to retrieve it?

[KurtHuhn]

Instead, I hang a can full of soapy water below the contact area, right in the stream of sparks. The soap breaks the surface tension and allows the metal to sink.

Don't you just hate it when the item gets away from you, dropping into the bucket, and you have to stick your hand into the primieval ooze at the bottom to retrieve it?

Sometimes just getting past the scum that forms at the top is the worst part! It doesn't matter that it's soap, I feel like I have to wash my hands after that.