Grinding Wheel Maintenance
7-3
WM doc 1/20/21
7
7.3
Grinding Wheel Maintenance
An important part of blade maintenance is grinding wheel dressing. To dress the grinding
wheel:
1.
Dress a small radius on the left corner.
2.
Dress the back 2/3 of the wheel at the same angle as the back of the teeth.
3.
Blend the back and bottom angles together.
4.
If more gullet grind is desired, dress back angle further across wheel.
5.
If shorter tooth height is desired, dress bottom angle larger and reblend.
Sharpening a blade with a worn wheel will do more damage to the blade than good. The
shape at which you have dressed the wheel must be maintained. The small radius on the
left corner of the wheel is especially important to maintain. This is the section that does
the most grinding. The radius will increase during sharpening. As it becomes larger, it
starts to grind into the tooth face and leaves little or no hook angle in the tooth.
To maintain grinding wheel shape, redress the wheel when it becomes worn. Also redress
the wheel when it becomes "loaded up" with metal and no longer sharpens teeth properly.
To redress, dress the bottom angle of the wheel. Blend this area with the small left corner
radius. Redress the back angle if necessary.
Abnormal wear on the grinding wheel may be caused by:
Improper dressing
Grinding too fast
Grinding too heavy
Grinding too many blades without redressing
When sharpening a blade, particles can become lodged in the grinding wheel that can
burn or groove the gullet of the blade. Burns or grooves in the gullet create microscopic
stress fractures which will eventually cause the blade to break prematurely.
IMPORTANT:
Lightly dress the wheel after sharpening each blade to
remove particles and prevent burning or grooving the blade.
Replace the grinding wheel when it is worn to less than 4” in diameter.
