# Pink vs White grinding wheels



## Charlie75 (Mar 14, 2012)

After betting a very badly warped wheel on line (white) that wobbled so bad that my grinder which is bolted to a piece of plywood and clamped to my work bench shook the clamps loose and the grinder kind of danced around my bench.
I stopped at Woodcraft this after noon and picked up another wheel (pink this time) which prompted the question in my mind, is there a difference?
I put the pink wheel on my grinder and there is a very slight amount of wobble (maybe 1/32" or less) but nothing like the previous wheel. At this point I am satisfied.


----------



## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

I think pink is a little bit harder.


----------



## Charlie75 (Mar 14, 2012)

> I think pink is a little bit harder.
> 
> - TheFridge


That's kind of what I thought too. However the white one I got was 80 grit and the pink is 120 grit. Don't know if that makes a difference or not. My guess is that I does.

I forgot to mention in my original question was that it is my belief that a lot of the problems with these wheels is they lousy plastic bushings they put in them. The shaft on my grinder is 5/8" and that hole is 1" or 1 1/4".


----------



## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

Pink can have different grits also, I don't think it's as "friable".


----------



## woodchuckerNJ (Dec 4, 2013)

So, if you have a white wheel with a 1" hole, pickup the One Way wheel balancer, or look for one at Enco or MCS.
They clamp the wheel and provide a method to balance.
My Rikon came with Crappy white wheels that don't have a 1" arbor hole, so I have to buy new stones. Thinking of just going to CBN.


----------



## unbob (Mar 10, 2013)

Seems the pink wheels are imported. And they are the last choice wheels I use on a tool&cutter grinder.
The pink wheels do seem to be harder, and tend to burn thin work.
My best wheels are Norton grey wheels, and the blue wheels called seeded gel.
For my bench grinder, I have been using white wheels branded Jet., with good results 
The high quality wheels have a 1 1/4" bore. Can be hard to find and expensive in small bores.
Please be careful with grinding wheels, they can be really dangerous.


----------



## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

Each manufacturer has their own specifications associated with color (Camel (CGW), Georgia, Norton, Pacific).
Here is one manufacturer that breaks it down for you.

http://www.georgiagrindingwheel.com/grindingwheels_basics.htm#faq2

I suspect you bought a CGW pink wheel with K hardness. I use Norton K hardness and they come in light blue color.

Easy to get a bad wheel, or low quality telescoping plastic bushing today. When you mount a wheel on your grinder do not over tighten the nuts. Hand tightens only! Those big washers (collar wheel or wheel flange, etc..) that go on front & back of the wheel can be a problem. One fix is hand sand face that touches the wheel with sandpaper on a flat surface. If have bad plastic telescoping bushings replace with one piece metal bushings.

Due to low quality wheels, wheel washers, telescoping bushings many wheels will wobble some until grinder gets up to speed. Using a diamond wheel dresser should square away any wobble you have once wheel at full speed. Your tools should not bounce off the wheel while trying to sharpen after dressing the wheel. If not check problem areas pointed out repair or replace.


----------



## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

What do you mean by wobble? Side to side, or along the circumference? If side to side, then the washer is at fault; if circumferential, then it's the wheel bushing.The color of the wheel has no bearing on how it spins.


----------



## moke (Oct 19, 2010)

I have been woking on a sharpening station for months now for my lathe tools. I had gotten an article sent to me about balanceing the wheels with "dot" stickers. It was essentially like balancing a tire. I messed with it for a month or so, with very little success. I finally tried replacing those plastic bushings….those are terrible. Further I had a set of one-way bushings meant to balance the wheels with…they were equally awful….but 100.00!!!
I bought the craft-supply bushings for 17.00 and never looked back or even tried to balance it again.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/97/6196/Raptor-R3X-Grinding-Wheel-Bushing-2-Piece-Set?term=grinding%20wheels

MrRon is exactly right….color has only bearing on how hard it is…..typically the good stone wheels are very true and correct…it is the stuff around it that is not. It just took me 4 months of research to come up with that.
Mike


----------



## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

Mr. Ron, not sure anyone said anything about color and ability to run true. All manufacturers produce a bad wheel now and then.

Whether which color wheel pink or white is better hard to say. I like a K-hardness wheel, but depending upon manufacturer color could be white, pink, or light blue. When first got into turning wheel hardness ran from H thru M. H grade being softer than M. Have personally used I, J, & K wheels, prefer J or K hardness and never saw L or M hardness wheel sold by anyone.

At one time pink wheels were made with chrome oxide and little harder than white wheels or referred to as semi friable wheels and ran little hotter than white wheels. Not sure that info still true but some vendors continue to say it.

Mike provided us perfect solution for lousy wheels rather than going to ENCO or MSC etc.. and wading thru pages to find what you want or need.

Thanks Mike!


----------



## Charlie75 (Mar 14, 2012)

Mr. Ron, I was just about to say that the wobble is side to side. These new pink wheels that I just got from Woodcraft are a huge improvement over the white one I got on line.
Both of these wheels ran circumferential (I had not heard that word before) almost perfect. It was the side to side that was terrible on the white wheel. I found a set of bushings on Amazon that had high ratings when I came to correcting side to side wobble. These were almost as bad as the ones that came with the white wheel. When I picked up the pink wheels from WC and put them on the side to side wobble was almost gone.
For the time being I think I can live with these pin wheels until someone comes along and offers a bushing that actually works.
Thanks Mr. Ron for helping me clear up my original post.

Moke, Thanks for the link. These look like they may be the answer. Maybe. I have to decide if I want to gamble $17. to see if these will work. As I stated, The pink wheels are not bad wobble wise. But if I can salvage the white wheels i'll be all the more happy.

Charlie


----------



## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

> Mr. Ron, I was just about to say that the wobble is side to side. These new pink wheels that I just got from Woodcraft are a huge improvement over the white one I got on line.
> Both of these wheels ran circumferential (I had not heard that word before) almost perfect. It was the side to side that was terrible on the white wheel. I found a set of bushings on Amazon that had high ratings when I came to correcting side to side wobble. These were almost as bad as the ones that came with the white wheel. When I picked up the pink wheels from WC and put them on the side to side wobble was almost gone.
> For the time being I think I can live with these pin wheels until someone comes along and offers a bushing that actually works.
> 
> ...


I would make sure any wheel I put on the grinder is a well known name like Norton. I don't know where WC gets their wheels from. Grinding wheels are industrial products; therefore you should shop for them from an industrial supplier like MSC, McMaster-Carr, Enco . This may help you understand better the different grades of wheels .http://www.mcmaster.com/#abrasive-grinding-wheels/=weobt9


----------



## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

Mr. Ron, had trouble finding AL friable 6" or 8" grinding wheels at McMaster-Carr. Same can be said for other tool suppliers you mention. What is the secret?

Norton & Camel (CGW) wheels pretty common today in woodturning, Norton having a better reputation than CGW. Guess boils down to where you buy your wheels.

Looks like Woodcraft sells both pink & white CGW (Camel) super fine & medium grit wheels. May not be true for every store!

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/01W47/Aluminum-Oxide-8-x-1-Grinding-Wheel-White-120-Grit.aspx

This place sells both Norton & CGW wheels but have to hunt for your size. Would ask about center bushings before buying.

http://tool.wttool.com/search?w=grinding+wheels&x=32&y=11

These guys all sell Norton Wheels

Packard Woodworks sells all popular Norton wheels

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=packard&Category_Code=sharp

Craft Supplies

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/search?term=grinding+wheels

Sharpening Supplies

http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Grinding-Wheels-C20.aspx

Highland Hardware
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/search.aspx?find=norton+grinding+wheels


----------

