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Relief grind angle

14 posts
  1. Nowakowski Michael J
    Nowakowski Michael J avatar
    1/9/2015 4:01 PM
    I am trying to learn how to use our old Foley relief grinder. I go through the manual, try some things on an old reel, check the manual again, etc. The manual says normally the relief angle is 30 degrees but does not really say how to measure it. Any tools or ideas I might need?
    One more thing, is the guide finger supposed to be adjusted as the stone wears, and if so how often and how close to the stone should it be? Did not find this in the manual either.
    Thanks for any help.



  2. Chad Shafer
    Chad Shafer avatar
    2 posts
    1/10/2015 1:01 AM
    What type of Foley Grinder is it? If it's the old manual one I am thinking of you have to in fact adjust the guide as the stone gets smaller. I believe it was a Foley 385, but not a 100 % certain on that. As far as relief for me it was sight thing. Those older grinders where always harder to set up relief on. I always just tried to give myself a little relief on the first part of the grind otherwise it was a two part set up on those older manual grinders. I now have the 4000DX from Bernhard it is so much easier to use and set up. I only spin grind my reels now.



  3. Hector Velazquez
    Hector Velazquez avatar
    0 posts
    1/10/2015 5:01 PM
    Michael Nowakowski said: I am trying to learn how to use our old Foley relief grinder. I go through the manual, try some things on an old reel, check the manual again, etc. The manual says normally the relief angle is 30 degrees but does not really say how to measure it. Any tools or ideas I might need?
    One more thing, is the guide finger supposed to be adjusted as the stone wears, and if so how often and how close to the stone should it be? Did not find this in the manual either.
    Thanks for any help.


    Michael,
    Keep an eye out for my next two episodes of Hector's Shop, On Part 1 we will be talking about Spin Grinding, and on the sec part of the series we will be address relief grinding! So keep an eye out!



  4. Christopher Thuer
    Christopher Thuer avatar
    101 posts
    1/11/2015 1:01 PM
    I haven't done a relief grind for 13 years since at my previous position. As more and more blades are added it has become harder plus at this course we have a spin grinder. I do all grinding while our assistant and equipment tech do the breakdown and rebuild. From 1988 to 2002 I did do a manual relief grind and did hundreds of reels during that time. As for angle, I eyeballed it. It was pretty easy to tell if it was too much or too little after I got the hang of it. Most of the time there was still relief showing from the previous, or original grind, so I would try to match that. The finger was adjusted every few reels as the stone wore. It wasn't right against the stone, maybe 1/4 inch away.

    Chris Thuer, CGCS, Bear Slide Golf Club, Cicero, IN

  5. Henry Heinz
    Henry Heinz avatar
    0 posts
    1/12/2015 6:01 AM
    You can cut a relief basically at any degree you want. The steeper the relief the longer it will last but your reels may reach its wear limits faster. The less degree you have may not last as long but your blades will most likely last longer. Once you have your degree set that you like, you can regrind relief when you reach about 50% then its easy to adjust your grinder to achieve the same angle. Also you can cut back farther on your top grind of the bedknife creating relief there as well. relief helps, and even more so if you lap. You can use a protractor to find your angle. We set ours steep that way when we do our touch up grinds it's less than 5 minutes a reel and like 3 to 4 full down and back passes and it's done. Deere is about 30 from the factory, we're right there sometimes a little more is added, maybe 10 to 15 degrees depending on the unit and what we're trying to accomplish.

    Also, where the manufacture tell you that your wear limit is 4.5 inches on a 5" reel may or may Not be accurate. The lower in height you go the less reel stock you can actually use. On JD's units, QA5 you can change the inserts and reposition the bedbar to use more of the reel stock, but for Jac and Toro you need to decide what number is best for you to rebuild/re-reel your units. More important on fixed head walkers.

    Regards,



  6. Nowakowski Michael J
    Nowakowski Michael J avatar
    1/12/2015 5:01 PM
    Thanks for the help guys. Chad our model is the 388. Looking forward to your video Hector.



  7. Bob Pruneau
    Bob Pruneau avatar
    5 posts
    4/30/2015 7:04 PM
    http://golfcoursemechanics.blogspot.ca/ ... et-up.html

    Should also be something on Foley site or contact them . Grinder companies are great to deal with .



  8. Michael Kriz
    Michael Kriz avatar
    0 posts
    5/1/2015 8:05 AM
    http://www.sipgrinder.com/news/news.html

    Scroll down and read how John Patterson is able to relief grind a 14 blade reel...It can be done!



  9. Nowakowski Michael J
    Nowakowski Michael J avatar
    5/1/2015 9:05 AM
    Was not sure how good a job I did grinding until this spring when we started cutting again, and I think I actually did a good job. Had to go with Henry"s advice and use something other than a 30 degree angle as most of the reels should be replaced soon and I could not get that angle without hitting the spider welds.
    Never thought of it much before but do realize how vitally important the bedknife is now. Getting hit every 5, 8 or 11 times per reel spin makes me wonder why I never gave it much thought before.



  10. Norma O'Leary
    Norma O'Leary avatar
    1 posts
    5/1/2015 8:05 PM
    Michael:
    I have been grinding reels with the Foley for about 30 years. My relief angle is "3 Cranks Down" on the stone height adjustment. (only 2 1/2 cranks down on 11 bladed reels) Works perfect for me. I readjust the blade finger with each set of cutting units.
    Norma O'Leary



  11. Kurt Lading
    Kurt Lading avatar
    0 posts
    7/22/2015 10:07 AM
    I always remove as much metal as possible without getting into the spiders. That is the object of relief grinding after all, to remove mass so that the machine labors less and thereby gets better fuel economy.



  12. Mike Smith
    Mike Smith avatar
    0 posts
    8/5/2015 7:08 AM
    If you have a NEW reel in the box of the type you are trying to relief - mount it up on the grinder and MATCH the Factory relief angle by manually "scrubbing" the stone on the blade. May need a Sharpie marker pen to paint the blade then make sure your scrubs evenly remove the ink.

    Once relief is re-established there is usually some amount of relief left when re-grinding. Use the same Sharpie marker procedure to match the relief angle.

    Often it is a quicker grind to relief grind the reel first, then spin a 1/8" -1"4" flat on the reel.

    GL



  13. Henry Heinz
    Henry Heinz avatar
    0 posts
    8/5/2015 12:08 PM
    That's true about relief grinding first, but spinning it first assures you take out any cone so you get an accurate relief grind. You could end up grinding away all your relief if your reels are not true. Just a thought


    Regards,



  14. Keith Pegg
    Keith Pegg avatar
    0 posts
    8/5/2015 4:08 PM
    I did spin grind for 30 + years but two years ago I got a new machine and we did an angle about 15' if I remember and I must say the cut is better and we are doing all greens, fairways and other mowers the same. I do not think I would go back.

    Keith



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