Topic: Aluminum bushing for 5/8" arbor

[Sharpco]

I chose Wootz's solution for concave edge sharpening and I bought this wheel.

https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/radius-edge-cbn-wheels/products/cbn-wheel-80-grit

But it has 5/8" arbor, while shaft of T-8 is 12mm. According to Wootz, the aluminum bushing solves this problem.(outer diameter  5/8", inner diameter 12mm, length 42mm)

But I can't find a company to manufacture it.

http://aluminumspacers.com/ ---> They can only make up to 38mm.

Is there a company in the US that makes the bushing I want?(6061 aluminum)

[Ken S]

Sharpco,

I have several suggestions:

Check with Ken Rizza at Woodturnerswonders. When I tested CBN wheels for the forum, I asked Ken about wheels for the T4. He was not familiar with the T4 at the time, but suggested I send specifications and he would price custom work. (CBN wheels are primarily used with high speed grinders by wood turners.)

Check with D-Way Tools. I have three of their wheels (one for the T4 and two for the T8). They are made of steel with one inch bores. They sell reducing bushings of several sizes, including 12mm for Tormek. The same bushings work for the T4 and T8. D-Way wheels can be used wet or dry. Wet usage really requires an anti corrosion agent. The bushings are nicely machined.

The third solution is what I used with the eight inch Norton 3X wheels with the T4. The plastic bushings only reduced to 5/8”. Schedule 80 plastic water pipe has an outside diameter of 5/8”. The inside diameter is 7/16”. I drilled the inside diameter out to 31/64” and reamed it slightly. A better solution would be to drill it out to 12mm. I had the drill, bit, and some plastic pipe, so it cost me nothing. Any machine shop could do this for you for a very modest charge.

Ken

[Sharpco]

Sharpco,

I have several suggestions:

Check with Ken Rizza at Woodturnerswonders. When I tested CBN wheels for the forum, I asked Ken about wheels for the T4. He was not familiar with the T4 at the time, but suggested I send specifications and he would price custom work. (CBN wheels are primarily used with high speed grinders by wood turners.)

Check with D-Way Tools. I have three of their wheels (one for the T4 and two for the T8). They are made of steel with one inch bores. They sell reducing bushings of several sizes, including 12mm for Tormek. The same bushings work for the T4 and T8. D-Way wheels can be used wet or dry. Wet usage really requires an anti corrosion agent. The bushings are nicely machined.

The third solution is what I used with the eight inch Norton 3X wheels with the T4. The plastic bushings only reduced to 5/8”. Schedule 80 plastic water pipe has an outside diameter of 5/8”. The inside diameter is 7/16”. I drilled the inside diameter out to 31/64” and reamed it slightly. A better solution would be to drill it out to 12mm. I had the drill, bit, and some plastic pipe, so it cost me nothing. Any machine shop could do this for you for a very modest charge.

Ken

Thank you Ken.

I like the second solution the most. I will see if the bushing of D-way tools is aluminum.

[Ken S]

Sharpco,

I am curious (not critical). Why do you want the bushings to be aluminum? The three D-Way bushings I have are steel. That does not surprise me, as they are designed for heavy duty high speed dry grinding for woodturners. My preference would be stainless steel.

I suggest you email Ken Rizza and D-Way.

Ken

[Sharpco]

Sharpco,

I am curious (not critical). Why do you want the bushings to be aluminum? The three D-Way bushings I have are steel. That does not surprise me, as they are designed for heavy duty high speed dry grinding for woodturners. My preference would be stainless steel.

I suggest you email Ken Rizza and D-Way.

Ken

I think aluminum bushings are good for aluminum wheels.

I contacted Ken and got the answer. He said it was difficult to make, but he would contact me if he get them.

[meltzer1]

I realize this is an old topic.  A metal custom bushing is not really needed to mount, for example, a felt wheel on the 12 mm shaft of the Tormek (T8).   If you will get a piece of 1/2" PEX pipe, best is a straight piece, not from a roll, you will find that the O.D. is almost exactly 5/8" and the I.D. is almost exactly 12 mm.  If you take out plastic reducer bushings from the wheel to get to 5/8" I.D.and insert a piece of PEX of correct length, you will have a suitable bushing for little expense.  Also, with a 1" thick felt wheel, if you get standard 12 mm (stainless) washers one inside the wheel toward the motor, and 4 on the outside of the wheel, it will clamp the wheel.  If your wheel thickness places the outside washer on the small threaded part of the shaft, simply glue two washers with a bit of epoxy so that the outside washer is concentric with the shaft before clamping.  There is a further advantage of a plastic PEX bushing.  It is critical that the bore hole be exactly perpendicular to the plane of the wheel, otherwise there is wobble.  The PEX is very easy to machine.  With an adjustable 6 blade reamer set to correct size and a drill press, used unpowered, it is easy to trim the PEX ID to exact diameter and perpendicularity.

[RickKrung]

I chose Wootz's solution for concave edge sharpening and I bought this wheel.

https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/radius-edge-cbn-wheels/products/cbn-wheel-80-grit

But it has 5/8" arbor, while shaft of T-8 is 12mm. According to Wootz, the aluminum bushing solves this problem.(outer diameter  5/8", inner diameter 12mm, length 42mm)

But I can't find a company to manufacture it.

http://aluminumspacers.com/ ---> They can only make up to 38mm.

Is there a company in the US that makes the bushing I want?(6061 aluminum)

I must be missing something.  38mm = 1.496", which may be functionally the same as 1.5".  But, you only need an OD of 15.9mm.  Why is it you cannot get this from the aluminum spacers outfit?  I think their cost would be prohibitive, but perhaps not if they cater to small orders. 

On the compatibility of aluminum spacers with an aluminum wheel, be careful of galling.  I would opt for a material OTHER than aluminum for the spacer if my wheel were aluminum. And It doesn't need to be super hard.  I agree that plastic spacers would work, consistent with meltzer1's comments.

Rick

[Sharpco]

I must be missing something.  38mm = 1.496", which may be functionally the same as 1.5".  But, you only need an OD of 15.9mm.  Why is it you cannot get this from the aluminum spacers outfit?  I think their cost would be prohibitive, but perhaps not if they cater to small orders. 

On the compatibility of aluminum spacers with an aluminum wheel, be careful of galling.  I would opt for a material OTHER than aluminum for the spacer if my wheel were aluminum. And It doesn't need to be super hard.  I agree that plastic spacers would work, consistent with meltzer1's comments.

Rick

Thanks Rick.

You're right. But I already aluminum bushing. The cost little bit high but I'm satisfying

[Ken S]

I like the Pex idea. I have made several reducing bushings from 5/8” schedule 80 plastic water pipe. It comes with a 7/16” Inside Diameter, which is smaller than 12mm. Not having a 12mm drill bit, I used a 31/64” bit and used the flutes of the bit to ream the hole.This is not good machine shop practice, but is close enough for a coarse wheel.

I think meltzer1's idea of using an adjustable ream would work much better. One suggestion: Once you are set up to make one, make several instead. In fact, make a bunch. I use them with several wheels as well as spacers to keep the shaft from sliding when I remove the wheel. Too many of us have misplaced the spacer used in shipping. These make very inexpensive, useful gifts for other Tormekers.

Ken

[meltzer1]

I might add that what I really suggest is machining the plastic, PEX, bushing ID after it is pressed into the wheel.  An alignment mark is made to be sure the bushing has not rotated relative to the wheel.  Then the whole assembly is placed on the drill press table and the ID hole reamed to size turning the reamer by hand, not under power.  I had a great deal of trouble getting felt wheels on my Tormek T8 and paper wheels on my Baldor 3/4 shaft buffer to run without wobble.  When I ordered a third, 200 grit, CBN wheel for the TORMEK, it would not fit, even trying to remove any burrs with a fine file, etc.  Finally, I obtained a 12 mm adjustable reamer, and in moments that fit problem was solved.  A bit later, it occurred to me that the reamer could be used as described to fine tune the felt wheels to the T8 shaft, which immediately stopped wheel wobble and obviated the need for a pair of spherical washers.  Then, I ordered a reamer covering the 3/4" diameter of my buffer and fine tuned the paper wheels on the Baldor buffer.  This immediately stopped wobble and again obviated the need for spherical washers.  These days adjustable reamers are not prohibitively expensive.  The 12 mm was about $12.00 and the 3/4" about $20.00.  When you are dealing with $300.00 CBN wheels, $75.00 felt wheels, and $50.00 paper wheels, being able to do a proper job fitting them to the machines seems well worth the expense.