Please help! Surface grinder questions.

[tntmachine]

Hello all,
I have just purchased a Thompsons 14" x 72" surface grinder w/magnetic chuck. I have never ran anything like it, and have many questions. We plan on grinding cast iron, and mild steel plates. So far we have the machine set up, have figured out what all the controls do. The next step we would like to do is dress the wheel (80G 20"x2" alum. ox.). We purchased a table mounted diamond stone dresser. The manual that came with the machine did not give very much info. What are all the proper steps to dress the stone (details, details, details please)? What depth of cut can we make? How often do we dress the stone? ANYTHING else we should know? We know we are getting into dangerous territory, and would really appreciate any tips, instructions, or warnings you guys could give us.

Thanks!

[mhtom]

First rule of thumb when dressing a wheel is never rush it. Dress your wheel manually and never take more than 0.001 off at any time. You can take more off, however I have found that the wheel will break down fastter. Differant kinds of metal will break down the wheel faster than others. I would suggest you invest in a good water solible coolant system if you plan to do a lot of work. It will stop warpping and increase the wheel life.

[ZipSnipe]

The big wheels like that need coolant. It does have a coolant system right? And just like mhtom said take it slow and .001 off at a time. When your facing the wheel set your dresser just to the left of the center of the wheel(mainly for safety reasons) always and I mean always make sure the surface is clean of debris. You will not like to see a grinder crash, took me a month to finally get the jitters out of me after my one and only crash.

[ZipSnipe]

Congrats on the grinder thats a sweet size. The big wheels like that need coolant. It does have a coolant system right? And just like mhtom said take it slow and .001 off at a time. When your facing the wheel set your dresser just to the left of the center of the wheel(mainly for safety reasons) always and I mean always make sure the surface is clean of debris. You will not like to see a grinder crash, took me a month to finally get the jitters out of me after my one and only crash.

[kesparate]

and one more time. keep the dresser to the left of the center line. the wheel spin should take the dresser away from the wheel if the magnet lets go. NOT under. the speed you should dress at varies a lot with the material and wheel you're using. the faster you traverse the wheel across the dresser the rougher the wheel will be. the rougher it is the heavier cut it can take, but the more breakdown will occur. (of course all this has points of diminishing returns)
as to when you should dress there are a few clues. first if it starts making funny noises or gets hotter than it did on the last pass you may need to dress. this means the wheel is loaded.
if you look off to the right and at the edge of the wheel. (the right side so that if it throws something it wont hit you. and don't hang out there) you will see where the wheel is contacting the material. if the wheels breaking down you'll see the line moving across the wheel. you'll have to learn when too far is too far.
do be careful. grinding wheels blow up if you do something really wrong.

[MR Custom]

And if you are grinding a larger piece that is warped or uneven spend a little time grinding air so that you touch off of the part in different places to find your high spots so that you have a good idea of where to start from. and again about .001 at a time. and wear your saftey glasses and take your time.