So the last few sessions in the shop, i have been having problems with scratches. Not normal for me to have scratches that i can't get out. I think i narrowed it down to some of my wheels are dying or even dead. So i found a guy on ebay (Ron Rocks like Michael mentioned) that had really good prices compared to DP and Kingsley North. I got 4 new Nova wheels, a new 80 HEX Galaxy wheel, and another 3rd right hand spindle for my Genie. I can now load up 12 wheels on my Genie and it takes me maybe 15 seconds to switch out the right hand spindle for another with different wheels. I think when the last 2 wheels come in, i will have Galaxy 80 HEX new, Galaxy 80 HEX worn, 80 sintered, Galaxy 220, Nova 140, Nova 280, Nova 600, Nova 1200, Nova 3000, Nova 8000, and Nova 14000. At this point i may eventually get a Nova 25000 or just put some other specialized wheel in the last spot. I found that only having the left and right hand spindles that came with the Genie, to be a limiting factor. Using the multiple spindle system, i can keep my left hand spindle for only coarse and aggressive grinding. I have 3 80 grit wheels for different purposes on my left spindle. The new one is for regular stones, the worn one if for really hard and nasty stones that eat diamonds off of wheels and that i don't want ruining my new wheel. The 80 sintered is a lot smoother wheel and a nice transition to the 220 Galaxy. Two of the worn out wheels were from Kingsley North. They weren't bad, but just didn't last as long as DP Nova wheels do. They also must measure their grit differently than DP. I would say the KN ones were a lower grit than what they were advertised to be. When i would go from my 280 Nova to the 600 KN, it seemed to be more aggressive than the 280 and therefore seemed to mess up the order of wheels i transitioned through when cabbing. I often just skipped the 600 and 8000 KN wheels rather than take a chance of getting new scratches. I also found the quality of the DP Nova wheels to be much higher than others i have used. My Nova wheels are perfectly round and very well balanced, this is actually quite important when grinding/polishing. The KN wheels were out of round and when the Genie was running, they would cause a lot of vibration and noise. The vibration was so bad, that my geyers would dance all over the tray and were hardly ever spraying the wheel i was trying to use. I finally too a sheet of like 1/8" plywood and cut it to just fit in the Genie tray. I then cut squares out of it where the geyers should be to spray the wheels. I always use both geysers on a wheel so i cut a double wide rectangle to hold both geyers below where the wheels were so they would stay in place and spray the wheel i was working on. A piece of plastic would have been better but i was lazy and could live with the moldy wood. Now with my new Nova wheels, there is no vibration and i don't need the plywood geyser holder anymore. So i will stay with DP Nova and Galaxy wheels. I have found them to last the longest by far and to be the truest wheels. If you use the other wheels, just don't mix brands, the grits don't exactly match up and you may get really bad vibes like i did.
I also can't wait to get the 140 Nova in. Michael convinced me that was a smart move. I had considered the low grit Novas before and thought they could be useful, but his research convinced me. So hurry up and get here. I am sure that my hard to remove scratches problem is now over with my new wheels. And i now have more spares for those situations where you don't want to use a good wheel and where you would like a wheel that you can abuse and not worry about it. You sure don't want to fry a wheel on one really hard stone. I have now found the hardest stone i have ever cabbed, to be a piece of Larimar. I could hardly touch it with my grinding wheels or Novas. I had to really push hard to get it to grind or polish. Not a good thing for your wheels. Previously my hardest stone was a sweet looking piece of Stinking Water Plume Agate that killed a new trim saw blade all by itself while trimming out just 2 preforms. It was a devil to grind and polish too. I'm not sure why certain stones just seem to be so much harder than normal. Is it possible for a stone that should be like a 7 to be more like an 8 or 9?
Mark
