Straight wheel

Straight wheel To the left is an image of a straight wheel. These are by far the most common style of wheel and can be found on bench or pedestal grinders. They are used on the periphery only and therefore produce a slightly concave surface (hollow ground) on the part. This can be used to advantage on many tools such as chisels.

 

 

Cylinder wheel

Cylinder wheels provide a long, wide surface with no center mounting support (hollow). They can be very large, up to 12" in width. They are used only in vertical or horizontal spindle grinders.

 

 

Tapered wheel

A straight wheel that tapers outward towards the center of the wheel; this arrangement is stronger than straight wheels and can accept higher lateral loads.

 

Straight cup

Straight cup wheels are an alternative to cup wheels in tool and cutter grinders, where having an additional radial grinding surface is beneficial.

 

 

Dish cup

A very shallow cup-style grinding wheel. The thinness allows grinding in slots and crevices. It is used primarily in cutter grinding and jig grinding.

 

 

Saucer wheel

A special grinding profile that is used to grind milling cutters and twist drills. It is most common in non-machining areas, as sawfilers use saucer wheels in the maintenance of sawblades.

 

 

Diamond wheel

Diamond wheels are grinding wheels with industrial diamonds bonded to the periphery. They are used for grinding extremely hard materials such as carbide tips, gemstones or concrete. The saw pictured to the right is a slitting saw and is designed for slicing hard materials, typically gemstones.

 

 

Diamond Mandrels

Diamond mandrels are very similar to their counterpart, a diamond wheel. They are tiny diamond rasps for use in a jig grinder doing profiling work in hard material.

 

 

Cut off wheels

Cut off or parting wheels are self-sharpening wheels that are thin in width and often have radial fibres reinforcing them. They are often used in the construction industry for cutting reinforcement steel (rebar), protruding bolts or anything that needs quick removal or trimming. Most handymen would recognise an angle grinder and the discs they use.