Umm...I think I killed my grinder

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dachemist

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I was trying to sharpen a spindle gouge today and I pulled the v-arm of my wolverine jig out a smidge too far. The instant the tool touched the grinding wheel the wheel stopped, accompanied by a rather loud thunk, clunk, pop, or snap (not really sure what type of sound it was but it didn't sound like a good one). So now my grinder (8" slow speed from Woodcraft, which happen to be on sale again this month) knows a new trick. I can hold one of the wheels still in my hand and freely spin the other wheel. I couldn't do that before so I'm guessing it's not a good thing.

I have very little mechanical apptitude (hence I became a chemist instead of an engineer) so I'm rather hesitant to start taking the grinder apart. The wheels still seem to be intact so I'm thinking it's safe to say the noise I heard was the demise of a part on the inside of the grinder rather than the wheel breaking.

Before I cough up some cash for a 2nd grinder I thought I would see if anyone had heard of a similar occurence on the slim chance it has a simple fix.

Thanks.

Mike
 
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You may have done one of two things. Broke part of the arbor (most likely) or broke the spacer in the wheel that slips over the arbor. If it's the spacer, buy a new wheel. Either way, take the wheel off and check, only takes a few minutes, and could save you a bunch of money.
 
Not likely that you have ruined the grinder; but discard the wheel immediately!! A visual inspection may not show anthing; but you could have cracked or weakened the wheel and it might come apart the next time it comes up to speed. Don't know which wheel you were working on; but one of the wheels has a reverse thread on it so don't get fooled when taking it off. Been a while since I did it so someone correct me if I'm wrong. I think the right wheel is a normal thread and the left wheel is a reverse thread??
 
Thanks everyone for your replies (and for the needed dose of common sense[:)]). Long story short, this morning I had cooled off enough to calmly dismantle the grinder and see what happened. I was unable to get to the inside of the which turns out to have been a good thing. It appears that the sudden stopping of the wheel just loosened the nut on the left wheel (Randy and Jim, it does indeed have a reversed thread on it). I put the wheels back on and tightened everything back up and it seems fine. I'm waiting to get some new wheels (figured I might as well replace both wheels that came on it with some good ones) to plug it in and turn it on.

Thanks again.

Mike
 
You're lucky, I took a chunk out of mine![xx(] One moment grinding and the next disaster.

The proven method is to support the wheel with a screw driver and to use a wrench to tap it in 3 or 4 places. A nice clear ring is great, anything else and it could explode at speed...

That was my thought as well, that you had loosened the nut, with the sudden stop.
The reason for the reverse thread is to tighten the wheels as they turn. That's why you install them basically hand tight.

Don't use the 3/4" Breaker Bar...[:D]
 
Do the ring test above on the wheel, if it passes then put it back on and let it run at full speed for several minutes. do not stand in direct line with the wheel during this time. this allows you to determni that the wheel is not cracked (ring test) or to unbalanced to be used (not likely as long a no chunks got taken out of it) it would also reveal any problems caused in the hole for the arbor or other chunks that where knocked loose but have not seperated from the wheel yet. of course if they are old or cheapy wheels I would not consider them worth the risk of any of the above. I have a grinder that has wheels as thin as 1/8 of an inch. this is the proceedure for changing them as they can be cracked or damaged even from normal handeling.
 
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