Vibration

[CaddmannQ]

I have this annoying problem, that sometimes my grinder vibrates the workbench enough to shake tools off onto the ground.

Is there a tried-and-true method for doing this mounting such that it doesn’t vibrate the whole bench?

I’m afraid every one of you gonna tell me to build a separate grinder pedestal. I’m seriously fighting that idea.

[Randyjaco]

I would start with buying new wheels. If that doesn't work ,you probably have a bent arbor. That grinder should be smooth as a turbine.

[digr]

Run it without the wheels and see how it runs.

[astronut]

After you have tried the above mentioned recommendations and it still vibrates, find you some a/c compresor rubber shock absorber bushings and place them in between the grinder base and your table/bench.

[greywynd]

Dressing the wheel may help too.


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[mccutter]

What they said ^^^^. Dress or replace--most likely the solid wheel. Spin the wheels by hand and look for visible runout. The wheels should be concentric to the shafts.

[arizonian]

Originally Posted by greywynd

Dressing the wheel may help too.


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Originally Posted by mccutter

What they said ^^^^. Dress or replace--most likely the solid wheel. Spin the wheels by hand and look for visible runout. The wheels should be concentric to the shafts.

A diamond point dresser is must have in a grinding room.

I ran across an article some time back where the author had filled the center holes with lead and then bored the center back to true on his lathe. Once the wheels were dressed, he could swap out wheels and not worry about truing them again.

[CaddmannQ]

Until I read all your comments, It did not occur to me that these things had a little slop on the arbor.

I loosened the wheels and re-tightened them after minor re-positioning and it is definitely smoother. But yeah dressing is required here.

My grinding room is what we called “the great outdoors”. I’m not working out in the forest between pine trees or anything. But I am outdoors in front of my little tool shed, under an awning.

So thank you for all the helpful advice.

[Ironman]

Caddman, your Baldor is a great grinder.
If the wheels, even one of them are out of balance they will continue to get worse as they are used. You can true them with a diamond dresser, but shortly they will start to increase the vibrating again. Vibration consumes power, which is why my balanced Baldor will coast for 2.5 minutes after shutoff because of no vibration.

So how did this happen?
I bought a wheel balancing system for under $100, and the results are impressive. Sharpening a drill bit, for example is a much higher quality job. Grindstones not needing to be constantly dressed means they last much longer.

I bought the Baldor kit and mounted the wheels on the balancing hub, and then realized that this precision setup showed the wheel as over 1/8" out of round. So before balancing I remounted the stone and balance flange on the grinder and took a diamond dresser and cut the stone to a perfect round.
It still vibrated and if used like that it would soon be back to 1/8" or more oval.

Then I took it off the grinder and balanced it on the balance wheel stand they sent, and moved the sliding weights so that when the wheel was spun on the ball bearings, the stone would stop at a different spot every time. Before balancing it would rotate by gravity to have one spot down every time.
It took about 5 minutes to do each wheel and the grinder can now have a nickel sitting on edge on the motor when running.

And then I mounted it on a free standing grinder pedestal.

I plan to put this balancing system on every bench grinder in the shop over time.

[CaddmannQ]

I have balanced many many bike wheels and car wheels but I have never balanced a grinder wheel.

The old Baldor outlasted of the life of one farmer already, and it will outlast me. I got it free in exchange for hauling some tools and things around in my truck.

But I think I should definitely get new wheels for it and look into the balancing system.

I have a smaller Taiwanese made DIV grinder from 1975 that I inherited from my dad. I used it for years to sharpen his lawnmower blades. I mowed my dad’s property until I was about 45 years old.

Now I use it for grinding drillbits and cutting points and it’s in pretty nice shape.

But I use that Baldor for snagging and hogging and and all kinds of rough grinding work. I should probably show it a little love and a mercy for a change.