An industrial grinding wheel in need of dressing -- note the rough surface
With use, grinding wheels can accumulate material on them that will cause their performance to suffer. A wheel can also become rough over time, as the material it is made of breaks off in small doses through use. Using a diamond dresser, which is much harder than the wheel material, you can redress a wheel so it is smooth and will perform like new.
Instructions
1. Put on safety glasses prior to starting this activity. Grit from the grinding wheel will be removed when dressing and there is the potential that it could get in your eyes.
2. Place the diamond dresser in position. When dressing a wheel on a surface grinder or other piece of equipment with a work table, you should locate the diamond on the work table so that it is centered or slightly back of center, catching the wheel on the upslope of its rotation. This way, if the wheel is fed too quickly into the dresser and it catches, it will knock the dresser off rather than jam it into the wheel, which could cause the wheel to break. For other grinding wheels, such as a hand grinder or pedestal grinder, you will need a steady hand to draw the diamond lightly across the wheel's surface.
3. Turn on the grinding wheel so that it is rotating at a high rate of speed. Lightly touch the wheel to the diamond so that a very little bit of the wheel's surface is affected. Try to begin with the area of the wheel that is the least worn away.
4. Move the diamond dresser across the width of the wheel. On a surface grinder, this means using the control to move the table backward and forward. For hand dressing, move the diamond as steadily as you can across the surface. Using the tool rest as a guide will help.
5. Continue removing a small amount of the wheel's surface in increments until the whole of the wheel is being dressed on a single pass.
Tips Warnings
Jigs and specific dressing tools are available for more specific grinding wheel dressing, such as a radius or angle.
Using a diamond dresser is a task that should be performed only by someone familiar with the operations of the grinding tool.
Tags: diamond, wheel, dresser, wheel surface, diamond dresser, grinding wheel, grinding wheels, surface grinder, Using diamond, Using diamond dresser, wheel surface grinder, wheel that
