Bench grinder wheels

I have one of those old Pinnacle 6"bench grinders , (they must have sold in their thousands! ) I bought it new 35 years ago for about 15 quid .

Its on its second set of wheels, but i then changed one for a wire wheel .. Anyway, each time i changed them , i took off the end plates , one spindle end nut has a left hand thread , and the other end a right hand thread..but when you go to fit a wheel , tighten the nuts up ,spanner on each end of the spindle , the other end loosens , as if the threads are on the wrong ends ! I end up jamming a towel between the rest and the wheel to tighten each end up . There are no flats on the spindle or allen socket in the ends...Whats the proper way to do it ?

I could clamp the wheel F.T . with a pair of mole grips though !

Edited By Hacksaw on 17/02/2017 20:12:49

I've always found that if I hold the grinding wheel in my hand/fingers (builders gloves useful here) that provides enough friction to do the nuts up tightly.

Hi Hacksaw

Whatever you do don't use anything to clamp a grinding wheel except a gloved hand. If you have ever seen a wheel explode griping it with mole grips is a shure way to see one. I always grip the wheel with strong leather glove when titening or loosening a wheel sometimes giving the ring spanner a sharp blow with a small malet if it won't undo but don't over titen. And makesure that the paper washers are intact and in place. If a wheel is suspect from misuse destroy it for prevent use by anyone.

David

I've always used just my hands to hold the wheel. I never found I had to tighten the nut more than that.

Pete

If they're not tight enough though , if you get a bit heavy handed and stall it ,( because its not very powerful ) the other wheel through flywheel effect, loosens its nut..

First off, the shaft is NOT in the wrong way round. Secondly it is completely correct to have a left hand thread at the left side of the shaft and a right hand thread at the right side of the shaft. This prevents the Clamping nuts working loose during use of the grinder. therefore you will never , ever be able to tighten the nuts by using a spanner at each end of the shaft. This , even if it were possible , which thank goodness it isn't, is absolutely NOT the way to tighten grinding wheels. It matters not that it's a cheap bench grinder, what matters is that before you play with it you MUST adhere to the correct wheel securing practice. If you don't you're in for disaster, , and believe me, I've seen a wheel burst and the resulting damage. Please get sound advice from possibly publications regarding securing and mounting grinding wheels but absolutely not from someone who says " just do it like this, I've been doing it for years and not had a burst wheel". Be safe before you play with potential life threatening tools. This is simple to do. Merely learn about them and understand them before you try using them. I'm not in anyway a H & S nut, but in this case I implore correct knowledge is sought and followed.

Make sure that any wheel you get has it's paper washer, one retailer in NZ was(may still be) selling wheels without paper washers, I did bring it to the notice of one shop manager, all he said was "that's how we get them, so they must be ok to sell". I didn't, but felt like asking him how he would feel about someone being killed by a burst wheel.

Ian S C

Hi, below is a summery of mounting precautions. Also a bit on guards.

Regards Nick.