Water Cooled Grinding

This is about the simplest way I've found, spray bottle, or dawn dish detergent bottle to keep the
sponge wet and you're good to go. I've tried the compressor hose garden sprayer contraptions.
Ken.
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I don't have it currently hooked up but I use a fish tank water pump submerged in a 5gallon bucket that constantly recycles the water. I use clear tubing to run the water line to the belt.

Its messy as heck but it keeps the belts very cool/clean.
 
Squirting the belt periodically with a spray bottle works in a pinch.
 
What type of belts , I'd think they'd get loaded pretty quick as I've noticed this just when dunking blades and going back to grinding?
 
I use a coolant mister too but only when grinding integrals. My integral grinding set up has no wheels just a flat platen with round stock welded to the end. The belt creates a ton of friction and things can get mighty hot really fast with out the mister. It's messy, but what's not messy in knifemaking:D?
 
Mike, if it turns the grinder dust into sludge that ends up on the front of your shirt or apron instead of EVERYWHERE, that might actually be an improvement, no? Your integral grinding setup has he same problems that using a horizontal platen with a slightly chamfered edge for cleaning plunge cuts has, but you can probably run at higher speed. Although I plan to eventually acquire a water cooled horizontal platen by hook or crook, this thread is very interesting because it addresses the issue of how you can cool the regular plan on your grinder. Of course , the one remaining problem is how you cool thin belts that are not designed to be used wet and are supposedly thin enough that the "air platen" design causes them to flutter excessively? The only current solution for that problem may be a platen setup that is liquid cooled internally and run only at reasonable speed.
Mike Quesenberry said:
I use a coolant mister too but only when grinding integrals. My integral grinding set up has no wheels just a flat platen with round stock welded to the end. The belt creates a ton of friction and things can get mighty hot really fast with out the mister. It's messy, but what's not messy in knifemaking:D?
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Thanks some more guys.

Wet grinding is messy in a different way than dry. I use a tw90, and use the slack between the front and tracking wheels. I like to be able to see my plunge line, so I get a face full of sparks, and I have several shirts with burn holes dead center. The water definitely knocks the sparks to zero, and keeps the blade nice and cool even using trizacts. I have to wear a plastic apron- not a big deal.

I won't grind without water much at all any more. Not having to dunk your blade not only saves your fingers, it's just a lot faster.

I have had great results with the belts I use. The thin 3M- 120 and 220 grit belts want to curl into a ball if you take the belt off wet. I'm sure we can all figure out a way to keep them straight while they dry. The ceramic and blaze belts, along with the trizacts, are hardly affected by water at all. They don't plug, and stay very clean, thereby working considerably better and twice as fast.

If you want to just see how it works, you can use a spray bottle, but keeping enough water on the belt takes longer than dunking your blade. It does work in a pinch though.

I went to the vet and got IVs for cows and horses. They come with the rubber hose and a regulator for about $15.

I'm not saying this is for everyone. Lord knows many of you guys are so far advanced from me that we can hardly speak the same language, so I'm sure there are different ways around this subject.

I use the compressed air blowers on my drill presses, and while I don't think it does much for heat, it sure works for keeping the chips out of the way.
 
This is really interesting. I have a couple of questions and/or thoughts.

All I have is a mighty Sears 2X42 and I've put a ceramic platen on it. Does wet grinding affect the wear on the platen any more or less than dry grinding? Wet grinding would certainly take care of the static electricity problem with ceramic/glass platens. ;-)

What I'm understanding from this discussion is that wet grinding keeps the belt from loading up with gunk. In my limited experience it seems to me that belts don't load up when grinding steel, they wear out. They load up when working with something like handle material. Could someone set me straight on this please?

Those of you who do wet grinding, do you use it on synthetic handle material? It seems like it would really help to keep the nasty dust down, possibly negating the need for a safety mask??? On the other hand, does it pretty much make a face shield a necessity?

- Paul Meske
 
Joe has planted the seed of a closed loop water cooled platen into my head. I have plans for an aluminum attachment that would attach to the back of a regular platen that would have internal water channels like you'd do on an injection mold. Add a little pump, some ice water and your platen would be chilled. I was already thinking about something similar for chilled quench plates.

Guys, my shop is backed up pretty bad right now, but as soon as things slow down a little there are a number of very workable projects I'd like to tackle here.
 
You don't even need to chill them.

I've had a water cooled platen for some years now.

You can mill a racetrack inside like I did, or get some cascade tubes from DME like I plan on doing for the next rev, and the Bybees have done already.

A fountain pump moves the water through the system.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Joe has planted the seed of a closed loop water cooled platen into my head. I have plans for an aluminum attachment that would attach to the back of a regular platen that would have internal water channels like you'd do on an injection mold. Add a little pump, some ice water and your platen would be chilled. I was already thinking about something similar for chilled quench plates.

Guys, my shop is backed up pretty bad right now, but as soon as things slow down a little there are a number of very workable projects I'd like to tackle here.
Click to expand...

Something like this?

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Credit where credit's due... Brian Fellhoelter is the genius who made this... I couldn't find the link, but had saved the pictures for future use.....
 
Fellhoelter said:
...or get some cascade tubes from DME like I plan on doing for the next rev, and the Bybees have done already.
Click to expand...

I must admit that I had to look up "cascade tubes" to figure out what you were talking about.:D I found THESE. It seems like you could get away with a single cascade tube directly behind the radiused bevel on a plunge-grinding platen to pull the heat away. Very cool idea. I'd like to see where you take it. :thumbup:

Erin
 
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Perhaps a silly question, but:

Would cooling a platen actually keep heat build-up down while grinding a blade?

I reckon I could understand it better when using a very thin belt like a J-Flex or some such, but with a 50 grit ceramic belt......would it really help?

I've never felt the belt after a session of grinding....I know the platen gets hot, but does that heat transmit back through the belt?!?!
 
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