This is why we love diamonds | Tormek Diamond Wheel Special

SUBTITLES ARE AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH, SWEDISH, GERMAN, FRENCH AND ARABIC

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Tormek Studio

here in Lindesberg, Sweden.

We are here for today’s special episode

where we will be entirely focusing on our Diamond Wheels,

their history, their structure, and so on.

And for that occasion I have a special guest,

our CEO, Håkan Persson. Welcome, Håkan.

Thank you, Sébastien.

But you are not invited because you are the CEO.

You are invited because you are

the most knowledgeable I know in abrasives.

I would say the most knowledgeable in abrasives here in Tormek.

You’re also a big part of our development

and innovation teams for the last decade,

and I also sometimes refer to you as the father of the Diamond Wheels.

The man behind the diamond wheels.

Is that correct?

Thank you. That’s about it.

Great.

I thought you could perhaps begin

with telling us a bit more about your background,

particularly your background with abrasives.

I think it could be interesting to hear a bit about.

Yes, absolutely.

I started in 1984 with abrasives.

It was one of my first jobs,

and I’ve been close to diamond and CBN,

so to say superabrasives through all my career,

and I’ve been working both with R&D doctors

in large abrasive companies,

but most of the time I spend with production and application engineers

at the large Swedish production companies

like Seco Tools, Sandvik, Volvo…

these kinds of companies,

so abrasives have been around.

There is a circle here back with the abrasives.

Yes, that is one of the reasons why I like

Tormek and sharpening.

It is still abrasives.

Perfect.

I will get back to you, Håkan. Thank you.

I thought I was going to tell you viewers a little bit more

about the different Diamond Wheel options we have.

So we have three different Diamond Wheel options.

They are all compatible with our T8, T7, 2000,

all our bigger machines we have.

The first one is the Diamond Wheel Coarse.

It is 360 grit.

This is more for steel removal, rapid steel removal.

It’s not really a finishing stone

because I think that the finish is not fine enough.

Then we have our Diamond Wheel Fine,

which is 600 grit.

This I would say is our most all-round stone

that combines rapid steel removal with a good finish.

This would be the wheel I would recommend for wood turners,

knife sharpening, chisels,

so this is which most users would benefit from the Diamond Wheel Fine.

Then we have the Diamond Wheel Extra Fine which is 1200 grit.

This is a wheel perfect for wood-carving tools,

or more expensive knives

where you don’t want to remove that much steel

and you want to give them some extra love and a perfect finish.

Common for all our Diamond Wheels

is that they are plated also on the outside

which means you can use them with our MB-100.

A big advantage with Diamond Wheels

is that you never create grooves in the wheel

which means you never have to true the wheels

which is a big pro compared to original stones.

Also they keep the same diameter

so if you want to remove steel with the Coarse wheel

and then change to the Extra Fine and make the perfect finish,

you just have to change the wheels.

You don’t need to reset the tool, the jig and so on.

That was shortly about our different Diamond Wheels

and the different places of use.

Good, back to you, Hakån, I thought.

After, it’s almost two years ago we released our Diamond Wheels

but I know that there is a lot of work

often behind releasing a new product,

such as the Diamond Wheels.

Could you please tell us a bit more

about how you thought when you released the Diamond Wheels,

the work behind?

I think that would be interesting for the viewers.

Yes, like I told you, I started with abrasives,

with superabrasives, already in 1984.

At that time, the superabrasive was very expensive

and only used in high-production applications

and industrial applications.

But of course I knew about the performance of the abrasive itself

so it’s always been interesting to introduce it

to also applications where conventional abrasives

had been a part and that had been my job over the years,

really to move from conventional abrasive into superabrasive

to gain productivity

in many of the grinding applications around.

After a while being in Tormek,

I realized that there may be a need for this also,

for this kind of tool sharpening that you do in a in a Tormek machine,

so I started thinking about this,

and I realized that the cost level now reached a reasonable level

so we can introduce that as a product

for this kind of application,

and I actually made some wheels

and we did some internal testing,

and after that we asked some of our good friends around

who know about tool sharpening in depth and do it in depth,

so one of the customers we sent out to test,

for a wheel for test,

was Glenn Lucas in Ireland

and he together with many others really reacted positively

and he said this is something that really helps,

and that encouraged us to move on.

Yeah, exactly.

So it encouraged you. Not only was it useful for them

but also that the quality held up

because it had tested for quite some time.

Yes, of course.

We can’t launch a product that doesn’t last…

No, no exactly.

…where it is not a real benefit for the customer.

That’s always…

So you had it in your back mind for many years

but finally the stars were aligning with the cost and…

I would say so, and it is a way of doing it.

So yeap, I think that it was good timing for doing this

and that’s it.

It has been very well received, I would say.

Yes, absolutely.

Great.

Could you please tell us a bit more

about the Diamond Wheel structure and design?

How is it made?

It’s actually a precision machine steel core

and on that steel core

you apply the diamond abrasive

with a galvanic process,

so each diamond grit is built in to nickel

to stick onto the steel core.

And believe it or not, but it is only one layer of diamonds,

so it’s not a thick layer, so because of that,

it is quite sensitive to damage,

to high forces but it’s very solid,

and we decided to make it with the same design as our original stones

so we would be able to sharpen also on the side of the wheel.

There are some people who really prefer

to get the completely flat surface

so then you can use the MB-100

and you can get a nice flat surface on that tool so you prefer that.

So that is another pro with the Diamond Wheels

and that gives the users an extra benefit compared to original stones.

Great. You said it was steel core, the Diamond Wheel.

I know that a lot of CBN wheels producers use aluminum instead

Why did you choose to go for steel instead of aluminum?

It’s always easier

to make a galvanic process with a steel core.

You need less steps and you’ll need less chemicals.

We try to stay away from as much chemicals

and environmental hazards as possible,

because of that we chose steel

but also because of the steel is a more solid,

stronger material, more resistant to bumps and so on.

Aluminum is quite soft.

So there are two main advantages really.

Great.

Where was I?

I have many more questions.

Yes, when I am out there meeting customers,

I am often being put on the spot and asked hard questions

so I thought I would take the opportunity at hand

now that I am the one asking questions.

How long is the life span for the Diamond Wheels?

How many knives can I sharpen on a Diamond Wheel?

Yes. This is the kind of questions sometimes facing,

and it’s always difficult.

You can never determine the number of edges

you can grind because it has so many factors affecting that.

But let’s put it this way.

The diamond itself, the hardness of the diamond

and the wear resistance of the diamond,

it will last almost forever.

As long as you treat the wheel

with reasonable force,

it will last years.

You probably know about your diamond hone

that you’ve been using honing

and many people have had it for generations.

It’s more or less impossible to wear out.

And I mean, this is exactly the same product.

It’s diamond coated steel hone.

The only difference is this is rotating and it’s a machine,

so you can take the benefit out of that.

It lasts a very very long time

as long as you don’t put too much pressure on it.

So if I understand correctly,

the thing is that it won’t wear out.

It will become less and less aggressive over time,

so really if I have a Fine wheel,

I could even if it’s not as aggressive after a year or two,

I could still use it as a “finer” wheel,

and buy a new Fine.

Is that correct?

That’s absolutely correct,

because when a wheel is brand new,

it’s very aggressive because all the diamond grits

are completely sharp and at a little bit different height.

So it’s very aggressive

and that is not the normal rate of cut

you experience during the first tools,

and you should be very careful because at that level

the wheel is in the most sensitive mode,

so when you have been using it for a while,

you can more reach the normal…

the more surface finish you should expect of the grit size

and then you slowly but surely make it even finer and finer and finer.

So there is a run-in period

when you should put even less pressure

and in general it will last forever

as long as you don’t put too much pressure.

Is that a good summary?

Exactly, that’s a good summary.

Perfect.

People often…

I keep on with the questions I get when I’m out there…

Putting you on the spot, sorry for that…

People often ask the question,

why are you using diamonds instead of CBN?

Or sometimes even people say, diamonds and CBN:

Aren’t that the same thing?

Will you please elaborate a bit more about that?

No, it’s not the same thing.

It’s the same group of abrasives.

They are both superabrasives.

Boron is the base for CBN

and carbon is the base for diamond.

So it’s two different crystals.

The reason why we go for diamond

is because it’s by far the hardest material in the world.

When you are using an abrasive at this low speed

like in our machines,

you really can take advantage of the diamond.

Diamond has a limitation.

When you go up too high in speed and generate heat,

the heat doesn’t cope with its carbon in steel.

Then you get the reaction and break down the diamonds,

so that’s the reason why sometimes people say

you shouldn’t use diamonds for steel but that’s not true.

That’s only true when you grind at high speed.

Low speed like honing applications,

like this slow-speed applications,

diamond is the preferred abrasive in my point of view.

Great, so the other manufacturers that have high-speed grinders

are not crazy for using CBN.

They are using it because they create more heat.

But for our application, diamond is optimal.

Absolutely.

In the bench grinder, diamond is not the choice.

You have to go for CBN

because that resists the heat better than diamond, to make it possible.

You explain it much better than I do when I’m out there.

I think it was a great explanation.

Thank you.

I think that was pretty much all the questions I had for you, Håkan.

Do you have anything you would like to add?

Not really.

No.

I hope you got a good picture

and got what you expected.

I got what I expected.

Thank you very much Håkan for taking your time.

I have the privilege to sneak into your office whenever I want,

if I have a question about abrasives, or other sharpening questions.

The viewers don’t always have that

so I think they appreciate you being here and explaining.

We are getting a bit nerdy or in depth

but I think people often ask questions

and I think this could interest many of our viewers.

And to you the viewers, thank you for watching.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Hope also you learnt plenty.

If you have further questions,

please ask them in the commentary below

and we will try to answer them as best as possible in writing.

I think that’s it.

Stay safe, stay sharp and until next time.

Thank you. - Thank you. See you.