advice for 8" grinding wheels

[-=ed]

In Harold_V's grinding missive, he reccomended a 7" x½" x1¼" 38A60H8VBE grinding wheel for a 6" grinder with a 7" wheel.

I was planning to buy an 8" bench grinder, and wonder what 8" 60 and 120 [or a better reccomendation] grit wheels would be appropriate and I would like to order them, but I am confused by the available wheels.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Harold_V]

The reason I recommend 7" x ½" x 1¼" wheels is because you have an excellent selection, to say nothing of them being commonly available. That's not true of the typical 8" grinder, for which you may or may not find what can be considered an acceptable wheel. The big problem isn't so much the wheel diameter as it is the bore size of the wheel. The 1¼" bore size is typical of wheels used in industry (cutter and surface grinders), so wheel selection is much greater. I believe I mentioned in the series of posts on wheels that there are 8" wheels with the 1¼" bore available as well, although they are not quite as commonly found as are the 7" wheels.

You may wish to consider making adapters for your 8" grinder, so you can run the large bore wheels. It most likely is a 3,600 rpm machine, so you'd have to use good judgment when selecting wheels 8" in diameter. Not all are rated for that speed. However, you'd obviously be able to run 7" wheels as well.

Bottom line in this matter is that if you stick with the small bore wheels, you're highly unlikely to find a wheel that is suited to grinding HSS. Most wheels on the market for such grinders are suited to general grinding---much too hard to be useful for HSS.

Harold