White Grinding Wheel

[Gone AwayParticipant @goneaway]

MEW Issues 48 and 48 have a two-part series on grinding wheels. Issue 4 also has a short, basic article.

(They're fairly old so I don't know if anything has changed significantly in the meantime).

[Robert DoddsParticipant @robertdodds43397]

Posted by John Stevenson on 11/08/2012 14:36:13:

If you are that tight you could always save the dust and re-glue it up into a new wheel.

John S.

John's comment reminded me of my association with the Sanitary brass finishing trade.

In days of yore brass castings were first fettled and machined as required then manually cleaned up on all the shaped surfaces using a hard felt mop, shaped to suit the particular profile, rolled through a traditional glue pot and then rolled over a tray of carborundum grit. This was then used on a polishing spindle to grind away the cast surfaces and in combination with other wheels, blend the whole surface of the tap or pipe union in readiness for polishing and chrome plating.

Once shaped the mops lasted for ages, a coating of grit was good for a couple of days and the glue pot was always kept at the ready and shared with the pattern maker.

The carborundum grit and the mops, as with many other metal finishing consumables came from Cannings in Birmingham.

Then came hot brass stamping and vibrofinishing.

Bob D

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Good God Bob, don't start giving this lot of tight wads any ideas.

I can just image it at a show, queue 17 deep and this Herbert of the front with a purse and a Reliant asking how much for an ounce of grit and how many pieces does it contain to the ounce.

John S.

[WolfieParticipant @wolfie]

OK well I don't know the code on the wheel cos I didn't take it. I have called him and said I want an alumina wheel and he knew what I was on about so lets see what he comes up with next.

If he gets me one I'll give you all his phone number lol

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I have had no problem with wheels bought of the shelf at Machine Mart – you can pick them up and examine them before taking them to the till.

Neil

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