Wheel Truing and Dressing

Wheel Truing and Dressing Points : Wheel Truing and Dressing As soon as a fresh wheel has been fitted it will be necessary to true its face and probably its sides for a short distance down. Truing and dressing is also necessary from time to time during the course of working to correct for uneven wear and to open up the face of the wheel so as to obtain efficient cutting conditions. The two terms have by no means the same significance as; whilst truing usually implies rendering the wheel face (or sides) perfectly true, dressing is a process of cleaning and opening up the face although not necessarily rendering it true.
Truing is carried out with a diamond which has a shearing action on the abrasive grains and the bond, and so removes dulled or irregular groups of grains. It is able to do this because it is harder than the abrasive, although not much harder than silicon carbide which wears it more than alumina. The diamonds most commonly used are South African Brown Bort Stones. The grey Bort and the Ballas although superior in hardness, are more expensive and only used on large wheels where their increased hardness gives longer life against the additional wear. A diamond must be mounted in a holder. This is done by penning, brazing or securing the diamond by casting a low melting point metal round it, leaving sufficient of the stone protruding for it to act as a cutting edge.