How to Balance a Grinding Wheel

Grinders are invaluable to craftsmen who work with wood, tiles or stone. To maintain safety and proper functionality, the grinding wheel must be kept balanced. A balancing arbor can be used to balance a grinding wheel. A balancing arbor uses a pair of collars between the grinding wheel in which balancing weights are attached to the outside to find its best balance point.

Turn off and unplug the grinder.

Remove the wheel.

Perform a "ring check" to make sure the wheel is not damaged. Do this by taking twine and running it through the center of the grinding wheel. Suspend it loosely and tap it with a non-metal object. It should ring with a tone similar to a bell. If not, it is damaged and should be discarded.

Slide the grinding wheel onto the sleeve. Rotate it around to make sure it does not fit too tightly on the spindle so it has room to expand during heat increases while grinding.

Tighten the flanges on the grinding wheel by keeping the wheel firmly in place and then rotating it to see if it wobbles (called "truing the wheel").

Take the grinding wheel off and remove the sleeve assembly from the grinding machine.

Place the balancing arbor into the grinding wheel sleeve and set it on the balancing stand. Remove the weights from the sleeve.

Spin the wheel gently until it stops completely with the heavy side facing down.

The exact point of the wheel that is facing up should be marked with chalk.

Put the balance weights back on the flange grooves so they meet beneath the chalk mark and tighten. Do not tighten them too firmly; this is a temporary hold.

Turn the wheel so the chalk mark is at 1 o'clock and move the weights until the chalk marks maintains its position here.

Tighten the flanges firmly so the balancing weights don't move.

Remove the arbor and mount the wheel on the machine in the sleeve on the spindle.

True the wheel one last time to be certain it is balanced.