Thread: Grinder Stone Storage

I was given about a dozen stones for my T&C Grinder plus my SG.
The stones are of various grits, shapes and diameters, how do the members on here store the stones. I don't want them loose in a drawer to get knocked about.
TIA
Kryn

I bought an el-cheapo tool trolley / cabinet that has a 4-drawer toolbox on top of a wheeled cabinet. The top section has my balancing arbor, wheel-change spanner and puller, tangental dresser etc; the cupboard in the trolley houses my balancing rail and a few transfer blocks. The drawers are full of wheels, no reason they should get knocked about as the trolley doesn't get moved around and I don't rummage through them carelessly. The trolley / cabinet is very poor quality but it lives next to the grinder and keeps all the associated stuff in one place and out of the dust.

A board with appropriately sized/spaced dowels sticking up is an easy way to keep them in a drawer without letting them roll around, you could even make some cardboard discs to put in between each wheel if you're really worried.

I am not ready to store my grinding wheels yet, but am planning for it. Tom Lipton from oxtools, YouTube, recently showed the very nice rack (in a drawer) he made from sheet metal. The stones are stored standing up, and with their hubs installed. If you are set up for working with sheet metal it could be replicated. Since sheet metal isn't my thing I am planning on building something similar from plywood or plastic boards.
Peter

I did thin plywood squares with ply sides (i.e. simple trays), one for each wheel. Fairly quick to make.

oxtoolco had some very neat totes made in aluminium, easy enough to fold up, 'Monday night meatloaf 119 showed them at c. 15:20

Thanks, some good ideas there. Thanks Node for the pic of that one, will draw it up and get it laser cut. Once I work out how big a drawer/s I need.
Pete, any chance of some pics of your balancing arbor, and balancing rail, please?
One thing I forgot to ask was, how many stones do a T&C grinder, and also a SG normally require?
Thanks,
Kryn

Thats all a bit hi tech for me just bang a few nails in the wall and hang them up

That's the problem, I don't have much wall space.

I thought I had some photos of the balancing tools but I just had a search through the relevant folders and came up blank; I'll try and remember to take some photos tomorrow.
From what I've read elsewhere, hanging your wheels on a nail is a bad idea as the dust that accumulates on the top side penetrates the wheel and ruins it. Something like that.

Took a couple of photos of the balancing gear today. I was fortunate when I bought my grinder, these were hidden away in the cabinet underneath along with a basic dresser. Got a welcome surprise when I got it home. I have a larger balancing arbor from a different machine on a shelf somewhere, came in a box of stuff from a clearing sale and I didn't know what it was for a few years.
balancing rail and arbor.jpgbalancing rail for sg.jpg

Thanks for the pics Pete. When setting it up do you require a machinists level or an ordinary one?
Something else I need to make/get.
Kryn

I use a machinist level and a pair of parallels, I've never really given any thought to whether or not that degree of accuracy is necessary as I had the machinist level before I got the surface grinder. The idea obviously is to balance the wheel so that it doesn't have any one spot where it wants to settle. I imagine that it is much more sensitive when dead level than, say, if a very slightly heavy spot was trying to roll the thing slightly uphill.
There was a video by Don Bailey from Suburban Tool where he demonstrates balancing a wheel, the jig he uses is a different thing altogether, the arbor sits in two pairs of bearings. Also he balances the wheel by drilling a hole to remove material; my hub has small weights that are moved around the circumference.

There's a label on my surface grinder with a Chinglish statement something like 'balance wheel most important thing in operate surface grinder'.