chiefs17

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Awesome job kr580! How do your spinners stay in the lid when you close it? I can't tell by the pics.

I ended up buying 8 wheels to get free shipping. If anyone wants to buy a wheel for the list price plus shipping let me know. I'm thinking it should only cost a few bucks to ship 1 or 2 wheels in the US. List price for the wheels is $19, plus shipping. I have 4 inch Orange wheels, and I'll probably sell 4 of them. Send me a PM with your zip code and how many you want, I'll take paypal as a gift or buyer pays the fee. Not trying to make money on this, just passing along the savings.

Is there another source (US based?) to buy the 4 inch grinding wheels? Buying 4 wheels ends up costing $27 per wheel with shipping.

Maybe you are dressing the wheel too long. When I dress the wheel I only let the spinner touch the wheel for a second, then I back it off. Do that once or twice at the most for a single dressing. I dress once per pair of blades. I used to dress before every blade, but I think that's overkill. You definitely don't have to get a bright new-wheel look when you dress. You will still see some black from the Fine Shine. Grinding wheels are porous and the oil will soak in, causing a slight discoloration. I am on my original 3 spinners from when the XO1 was first released (I've gone through about 10 grinding wheels), and I really only use the 1/2" ROH now, which has seen many, many dressings. Granted, I probably need a new drag cap because my spinner can really spin, but I think that my spinner may have lasted longer because of that.

So 15 clicks of adjustment is not uncommon, but you didn't say for which knob. Or are you saying all 3 knobs add up to 15 clicks? The Pitch knob doesn't have nearly as much effect in moving the blade as the L and R knobs do. That's why, once you set the Pitch knob initially, you never have to touch it again.

In regards to question 2 - Are you turning the Pitch knob to adjust the level of the blade? You should not have to touch that knob once the machine is set up. You should only be touching the left and right knobs.

You need to adjust the wheel arbor, which is what the grinding wheel sits on. There is a small socket set screw, two screws actually, one is behind the first one you will need to remove. In your picture you can see the hole where these two screws are. Remove the first screw so that you can loosen the second screw. Then adjust your wheel height, tighten up the first screw and install the 2nd screw, done! Don't worry too much about it being perfect, just eyeing it up is fine. You will need to adjust your holder after all of this. *I forgot to mention - you must remove your wheel first.

The reason I asked is because you seem to really be into the fine tuning of blades, like being able to tell the difference in glide between 85/75 and 90/50. But there are some contradicting descriptions in your original post. Such as having chatter after a fresh sharpening at 90/50, but then saying you didn't have enough bite with that same sharpening. Is your local sharpener very good at what he does? Do you check your edges for level after a sharpening? It sounds like you may have a bad sharpening if you have chatter, and no bite, all on the same skates. My suggestion - Just get a regular ROH sharpening and see how it feels. There are hundreds of NHL players still using ROH, and they are doing just fine. Don't get caught up by the hype of FBV, and make things more complicated for yourself. After all, it's just fun hockey with your buddies, right? Sorry I couldn't be more help, but I couldn't even tell you the last time I used an FBV spinner.

May I ask what your skating ability is, and what level hockey you are playing?

New blades just take more passes. Use a Sharpie marker and cover the bottom of the blade with ink. When you think you have made enough passes, take a look at the bottom of the blade. There should be no marker left on the bottom surface. Take a measurement with whatever gauge you're using, just to make sure you are level, then make a couple more passes and then a final pass with Fine Shine.

A new diamond every 2 wheels mickz? I'm on my original 3 spinners from when I got my X01, right after it was first released. I've probably been through 12-15 wheels. The waves in the last pass before oiling are pretty normal. They vary depending on the dress of the wheel and position of the wheel on the arbor. It's not something I've been able to control with any consistency. The last pass with Fine Shine usually makes it better. You can try resetting your grinding wheel. Just loosen the nut and try rotating the wheel a little. There's no science to it, it just changes the relationship between the wheel center hole and arbor, and basically balances the wheel. It might get worse or it might get better. Don't forget to dress the wheel after each time you try this. Good luck and let us know if it helps.

The machine doesn't come with the calibration block, but you don't need to buy it. Some info here on the calibration process without the block.

I'm not sure if I've ever done a sharpening on LS4 steel. I never bother to look at the model number of the blades. In my opinion, if the blade is stainless steel, or carbon steel of any kind, then yes the orange wheel will work just fine.

That's too bad lpg, Blackstone knows there is a problem with the ruby wheels. I called them and they sent me new orange wheels in exchange. I didn't think the ruby was anything special when they did work, so I'm fine with orange. Give them a call.

$31 for shipping? I thought being in Canada you would pay less for shipping than we do in the States. Wow, that is a hose job. $150 for free shipping is a lot of money to spend. It should be $50. I would bet that the Fine Shine is just a standard light machine oil, nothing more. When mine runs out I will be experimenting with using a light oil, like 3-in-one. Something you can get anywhere. http://www.amazon.com/3-IN-ONE-Multi-Purpose-Oil-3-oz/dp/B0083V8LPO If I remember, I will do my next pair of skates using 3-in-one and post the results.

Edit - sorry, I meant to say the second pic is how it should be when facing up. You want the first pic down, with the ring touching the wheel.

Great! I always wanted to get that done too. Let us know what you find. Thanks.

The label doesn't have to be facing up at all times. I was just trying to be clear about rotating it, and not flipping it over.

Rotate by removing the top nut that holds the wheel on, take the wheel off and rotate it like a clock, install it in a new position on the arbor. The label should always be facing up.

I can echo mnpuckers statement to the T. Except I have an X-01. fbvnyc - Is the wheel dressed already when you do this experiment? If it is, then try taking the wheel off the machine and rotate it and re-install it. Now try the same test without dressing the wheel. If everything is perfect, you should have the same results. If the spinner only touches in one spot first, then you have a wheel that is not concentric from it's center hole to its outside edge. The only way this can happen is play between the center hole of the grinding wheel (there should be a little there), a poorly machined arbor, or play in the motor shaft bearings. Let us know what you find.

I took my grinding wheel off last night to take some photos of my modified arbor. But I can't post photo's, not sure how. There's really not much to see, except the copper shim inside the center hole, and the resurfaced part where the wheel sits. What I did find interesting is when I put my grinding wheel back on, since it was not in the exact same place as it was when I took it off. I turned the wheel by hand and slowly eased the spinner in. The spinner made contact in a certain part of the wheel before anywhere else. This tells me my wheel is slightly out of round, or there is enough space between the wheel arbor and the center hole of the grinding wheel, that you can move it out of round. Either way it will contribute to vibration. I don't think it's a hole tolerance gap that's causing it, but I could be wrong. Try it yourself. Before you do anything, turn the wheel by hand while slowly turning the spinner in, as you do when dressing the wheel. You should get perfect contact between the spinner and grinding wheel all the way around the wheel, since it is already dressed in that spot. Now take the wheel off and re-install it in a different position and try the same test. I'll bet you hear the spinner touch the wheel in one spot only.

The arbor center hole, where the motor shaft goes, being non-concentric to the round boss that locates the grinding wheel hole, is exactly why he's getting the bouncing. It's acting like a cam. Most of that imperfection will be reduced when the wheel get's dressed, but I think the whole unbalanced assembly causes wobble to the point of bearing tolerance max. and maybe even motor shaft flex. My statement about CNC has a lot of variables (mainly my description of how bad it vibrated :). My machine wasn't bolted down originally, when I did bolt it down it helped a lot. Maybe yours was bolted right from the start.

You have discovered the poorly machined wheel arbor that Blackstone refuses to acknowledge. In your experiment you are adding mass with every piece you add to the wheelholder/arbor (upper nut, and grinding wheel), this exacerbates the problem. I had the same issue with my X-01 when I first purchased it. My machine would vibrate and dance off the bench if I let it. I took the wheel arbor off and the machine was so quiet that I couldn't believe it, that's when I knew the arbor was bad. I even sent the wheel arbor back to BS and got a replacement arbor, same issue. Talked to Steve and told him of the problem, he insisted the wheel arbor has to be good because it was done on a CNC. No, that just makes them all the same. If the center hole is machined off-center, like I discovered, then it will vibrate. I had a machinist where I work put the wheel arbor in his very expensive precision lathe, then show me the runout with a dial indicator. It was about .015" of runout, that's a lot when something is spinning at 5500rpm. So I then had the machinist clean up the entire part, resurfacing the face that the grinding wheel sits on and also centerbore the center hole of the arbor referenced from the round part of the arbor that the center of the grinding wheel sits on (hope that makes sense). I now have to use shim stock between the motor shaft and wheel arbor, but that's fine by me. My machine runs much smoother now. and I have far less problems with finish. I only wish I took a video of the problem and solution so that I could post it somewhere for everyone to see, but I didn't. Here's something everyone can try. Take your grinding wheel off and turn the machine on. It won't sound much different. Then take the wheel arbor off, remember there are 2 set screws in that hole. Turn the machine on and listen to how quiet it is.

I leave a spinner in the machine all the time. I know which spinner is in the machine by the empty spot on my pegboard hooks. It does take some care to keep them organized. You're right, there should be a better marking system on the spinner itself.