OneWay Grinder Balancing System

It works very well Paul. They advertised that a coin could be stood on it's side on top of your grinder while running after installing the balancing system. Much to my surprise It could.............:-)

-- Email evades spam Direct contact through web site

M.J. Orr

Oneway is so confident in their balancing system, when I ordered mine, they even supplied the "coin" for the final balance test.

James Barley,

Thanks you both for the input. My new slow speed grinder vibrates pretty bad. I think I will give the OneWay system a try.

Thanks aga> It works very well Paul. They advertised that a coin could be stood on it's

Paul Before spending the money on the One Way Wheel Balancer, have you done everything you should to balance the grinder? First of all, most wheels need a sleeve around the axle to fit the wheel. Most wheels have plastic sleeves and often one within the other to get down to the 3/4" or 1" shaft. Turn one out of maple to fit the wheel and axle. Then balance wheel to wheel. Put one on and leave the other off. Spin by hand and note where the wheel stops. Do it again. If it stops in the same place the wheel is likely heavy on one side. Loosen it and rotate it about 10 degrees. Spin by hand and note where it stops and so on. There is usually one "best fit" place on the axle where tiny little imperfections in metal, bearings and wheel allow for the best balance. Now do the same on the other end, leaving the first wheel in place. Turn on the grinder looking to see if there is side to side wobble on either wheel. Note if so. Now dress to round using a diamond point and jig, either commercial or home made. One Way makes an excellent one as I am sure do others. IF you noted side to side wobble, dress the sides. The grinder should now be balanced and if you still desire the One Way system, I feel the wheels should be balanced as best as possible first anyway. Just my opinion but my cheap grinder goes a long time after shut off before stopping, and that without rattle and roar.

The Oneway grinder balancing thing is something I have never understood the purpose of. By purpose I do not mean what it accomplishes, balances the wheels. But purpose as in why anyone would buy the thing. If your grinder vibrates it seems to me the problem is the motor shaft is wobbling or the wheels are somehow very unbalanced. Most likely the motor shaft and/or bearings are at fault. Why would you not cure the root cause of the problem instead of the symptoms?

If your new splw speed grinder is vibrating, return it to the retail store you bought it from for a replacement that does not vibrate. If by new you mean new to you but unreturnable, then buy a nice slow speed grinder from Woodcraft. 8 inch wheels. Does not vibrate. Mine does not. Costs about $100 at full retail price. Occasionally on sale for less. Includes two white wheels. 60 grit one is OK. 120 grit is too fine in my opinion. If somehow you get one that vibrates, call Woodcraft and send it back. Woodcraft is good about that. No reason to waste money on a Oneway balancing thing when you can get a decent grinder that does not vibrate for not much more money. The Oneway balancing thing is about $55. Not sure if that is one wheel or both wheels.

The first time you change or replace your wheels you'll find out that there isn't a manufacturer out there that will guarantee that their wheels are balanced, so if you buy an out of balance wheel, and send it in for replacement, in all likelihood you'll just get another out of balance wheel in exchange. This is where the third party wheel balancing kits come in handy.

Then there is always the chance that your idea of "smooth running" differs from someone else's.

James Barley

We have never found a grinder that vibrates with the wheels off. It is very easy for grinder manufacuturers to make shafts straight and for bearings to have little enough play for the grinders to run vibration free. It is a very common practice for even cheap grinders to have the wheels dynamically balanced through injection of paraffin wax at the factory. That is why sometimes grinders run great when they are new but vibrate like crazy when the wheels are changed. The root cause is the wheels. I do not want to get into slow speed versus high speed grinders but switching to a low speed grinder to get away from vibration is a little daft. If the wheels on your car were out of balance and you went into a garage and told the mechanic that your car was vibrating at highway speed and the mechanic told you to just drive at 30 mph what would you say to him? As for side to side runout, it looks bad but has absolutely no affect on how smooth the grinder runs. Fix it if it bothers you but it is purely a visual annoyance. regards Kevin Clay Oneway Manufacturing

I'd say that resonant vibration is speed dependant, but aside from that, the advantage of an integral rest firmly in synch with the grinder, and a tool firmly held to same will overcome some fairly gross balance problems.

More important to me is the "trueness" of the wheel, because I'm a freehander.

Kevin Will this balancing system really have your grinder running smooth enough to pass the coin test?

Yes it really will get your grinder running that smoothly. We used to put a Canadian penny in each balancing kit. Our pennies used to have flats on them so they were easy to balance because they did not roll off the rounded tops of the grinders. You can still balance a coin on a grinder after balancing the wheels you just have to be a little careful where you put it.