Grobet carding wheel?

[Mk42gunner]

I'm preparing to do some rust bluing and bought one of the four row Grobet carding wheels. After receiving it, I have a couple of questions.

1. How fast should they be turned? Low speed on a drill press seems way to slow to work.

2. Should I just drill out the wooden center and mount it on a grinding arbor? From memory (to cold to dig out the doors to the shop to look) my old separate motor arbor is 5/8".

Thanks for the advice,

Robert

[LAGS]

I run my carding wheel in my drill press set at low RPM.
You don’t turn those wheels at high speed.
Modifying the wheel to be driven will work .
But you can’t put the carding wheel on a bench grinder because they turn too fast and will throw apart the wheel.
The wheel I have now has a plastic hub that I was able to drill to the size I needed to make an arbor to fit in my drill press.
I think the arbor is 1/2”

[Bazoo]

I've been wondering about carding wheels myself. What speed is slow? 300 or 600? or do you just try various slow speeds until you find one that suits you?

[LAGS]

The carding wheel does not use lots of force to remove the material when doing slow rust bluing.
That wheel doesn’t have to spin fast like a wire wheel on your bench grinder.
Plus the carding wheel spinning hardly will hurt your fingers if you touch the wheel when rotating.
The guy who taught me slow rust bluing at his custom rifle shop had his carding wheel on a long arbor spinning in his lathe at a slower speed like 300 to 600 RPMs

[Chill Wills]

1. How fast should they be turned? Low speed on a drill press seems way to slow to work.

2. Should I just drill out the wooden center and mount it on a grinding arbor? From memory (to cold to dig out the doors to the shop to look) my old separate motor arbor is 5/8".

Robert

Here are my thoughts. I take in a lot of rust bluing for others. I keep a carding wheel in a small benchtop drill press and set the rpm's at 1040 according to the chart under the pulley cover. This is the 2nd slowest speed. You can try different speeds but slow is what you want. I made an arbor on my lathe from aluminum round bar. The arbor needs a way (threaded end) to hold the wheel in place. Carefully drill out the wood to maintain a good center so it runs true. If you need an arbor, PM me.

[LAGS]

The arbor for my carding wheel is just made out of a piece of 1/2” all thread rod and some nuts and washers with the hole in the wheel drilled to 1/2”
You don’t have to be PERFECT with the wheel running true.
But try to keep things fairly consistant

[Mk42gunner]

Okay thanks for the info.

My wheel has a hardwood hub with a hole slightly larger than ¼" through it. I currently have a ¼-20 bolt with a nut and lock washer for an arbor.

I'll play around with the drill press speeds until I get it to work. Although I do have four of the old style grinding arbors, but it is easier to change speeds on the drill press than buy new pulleys for the motors on the grinders.

I will wait for better weather to start this project.

Robert

[405grain]

As others have stated, you use a carding wheel in a drill press at medium or low speed. Do not mount a carding wheel in a pedestal grinder or other high rpm devise or it may fly apart. I use a long 1/4-20 bolt with washers and a nut to make an arbor for my carding wheel. With a properly done rust blue a carding wheel can give a deep lustrous finish.

[Mk42gunner]

That's why I asked, I don't remember reading any rpm recommendations when I ordered it a few years ago from Brownell's.

I also plan to practice with a piece of mild steel before I start in on a real gun.

One thing about being retired, I don't have to rush projects. Although my heirs are going to have a heck of a time figuring out what parts go where....

Robert

[zymguy]

I also plan to practice with a piece of mild steel before I start in on a real gun.



Robert

Drill a hole and stamp a number / letter in your practice pipe.

[Mk42gunner]

Not a bad idea. Then come the problem of keeping the practice piece where it can be found when needed.

Robert

[Rapier]

I mount mine in a stand mounted buffer with adjustable speed, set at the lowest speed setting. However, after fooling with that, it is easier and faster for me to just use acetone washed 00 steel wool to card on each pass.

[LAGS]

I agree about using Acetone and cleaned steel wool to remove the oxidation.
It is easier and faster.
But most of my slow rust bluing is done on guns that I Glass Bead or lightly Sandblast the metal to make a more Matt bluing finish.
But on the some polished gun metal I found that the carding wheel keeps the finish more uniform and just a little shiny.
Be sure if you use the steel wool on the metal, you need to rinse the steel wool in Acetone first or you will re apply oil on to the metal.
That will screw up your next bluing step with the metal contaminated.

[Pirate69]

A question from the uninformed. Is the wheel stainless steel or bronze?

[Mk42gunner]

The box label on mine says Steel wire brh. .003 STR row 6".

I believe it is stainless, it hasn't rusted or discolored sitting around for a couple of years.

Robert

[country gent]

When you find the rpm that works with your drill press take a marker and write it on the wood hub.

[2152hq]

Slow speed (around 400 to 500 rpm) . Let the wheel do the brushing work,,don't use a lot of pressure to remove the dust from te surface.
It should come off easily with the swiping/burnishing motion of the brush and not need heavy pressure at all.
If you find you are pressing the part into the wheel with some heavy pressure in attempts to remove the coating then there is a problem with the water not turning the brown rust to black oxide completely.

Also you cannot generally remove a blemish in the color layer with the carding wheel or with steel wool during the carding phase.
So don't just keep pressing harder on the part into the wheel. You'll just deform the wires on the wheel.

Keep the carding wheel clean of any contamination. Any oil on it from unclean parts or oil dragged from the boiling water, onto parts and then onto the wheel will be spread around onto the carded surfaces and spoil the cycles then on.

Clean the wheel with a spray cleaner like a brake cleaner if needed (wear eye protection). Also untangle any twisted together wires that start to form with a stiff hand wire brush used like a comb (a clean one!).
Tangled wires on the carding wheel are signs that the speed may be too high and/or too much pressure is being applied during carding

[Mk42gunner]

Thank you, this sounds like good advice to me.

Robert

[LAGS]

Thank you also
The details you gave are important.

[JDHasty]

I position the belt to run my drill press as slow as it will go and it works fine. I have a Grobet carding that has a wood arbor. I put a bolt in it when a I got it ~20 years ago. IIRC it has .005 wire.

I have a Rockwell Delta WWII surplus radial arm drill press and can also rotate the head 360 degrees vertically or horizontally. It’s not as rigid as a fixed drill press, but it has its advantages.