Resurface resin wheels

[liveoak]

I just had my Johnson Brothers re-surfaced 600 resin wheel break up.

I had it done about a year ago, so I doubt there is any warranty.

I recently read about Earth Brite Surfacing service.

Has anybody have any experience with them VS. Johnson Brothers ?

Earth Brite is a little more expensive, but if they did a better job it would be worth it.

Appreciate any input.

Patty

[NDK]

liveoak Patty, between you and your husband's abilities I'm surprised you don't recover them yourself. It's really easy and much cheaper. I say give it a shot 👍

[brybry]

Watch a couple vids on how to do it on YouTube. Stoopid easy!

[chris1956]

Feb 19, 2024 19:21:34 GMT -5 brybry said:

Watch a couple vids on how to do it on YouTube. Stoopid easy!

Can you recommend a video that is good.  Getting close to this myself.  

[liveoak]

Interesting- I never even considered it (hitting myself on the head)
More research in the morning.
Thank you, Nate NDK, & brybry for the push.

Patty

[brybry]

Currently Rock hounding did one and there is a link in his to the guy he learned from. They did diamond belts but the process is basically the same between wheels and belts.

[NDK]

There's a post on here somewhere as well with step by step instructions.

It is very easy.

I did my 280 soft wheel a few years ago and it's still working well.

[liveoak]

Thanks, Nate- 

  I've been researching this morning and these are the threads & videos I came up with - 

I'll post them here, so others can also find them.

forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/27289?page=1

You Tube:

I just need to order me some diamond powder, certainly looks doable, 

in fact, I think we even have one of those slow moving motors, that Tom used for rod building some years ago.

We have a joke in our house, that what you need is likely on the property - or at least most of it.

Patty

[rockjunquie]

Feb 20, 2024 12:31:02 GMT -5 liveoak said:

Thanks, Nate- 

  I've been researching this morning and these are the threads & videos I came up with - 

I'll post them here, so others can also find them.

forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/27289?page=1

You Tube:

I just need to order me some diamond powder, certainly looks doable, 

in fact, I think we even have one of those slow moving motors, that Tom used for rod building some years ago.

We have a joke in our house, that what you need is likely on the property - or at least most of it.

Patty

I remember a few DIYs in the archives, too.... somewhere.

[gunsil]

Those two videos all use epoxy which is hard and does not flex well. I had some wheels years ago that a guy re-coated with diamond and epoxy and I wasn't happy with the fact they were way stiffer than original wheels. I have some JB belts, they don't look like epoxy, they are more rubbery. Ditto on the KN wheels, I don't think it is 220 epoxy at all, it has a rubbery feel.

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2024 12:31:02 GMT -5 liveoak said:

Thanks, Nate- 

  I've been researching this morning and these are the threads & videos I came up with - 

I'll post them here, so others can also find them.

forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/27289?page=1

You Tube:

I just need to order me some diamond powder, certainly looks doable, 

in fact, I think we even have one of those slow moving motors, that Tom used for rod building some years ago.

We have a joke in our house, that what you need is likely on the property - or at least most of it.

Patty

Making your own diamond belts or re-coating wheels is a very doable project.

[liveoak]

Thanks for the encouragement (and the video of how to) @currentlyrockhoundin !

But gunsil brought up a good point.

I have 2 different wheels here & they look SO different.

The KN ones look like what me re-coating with epoxy might look like (if I'm lucky), 

but what is on the Johnson Brothers that makes it (and others I've seen photos of) so different ?

[khara]

Interesting project but I also would have concerns about flexibility. We don’t want the wheels hard, that’d be almost akin to cabbing on a flat lap. Been there, done that. Still will be interested to see if this can be done well. I won’t need to try yet for a while as I don’t get many cabbing hours in.

[brybry]

Those are the same vids I watched. Could probably do a little research and find a softer epoxy that would stay more flexible.

[liveoak]

I don't THINK re-coating really changes the flexibility, from what I've read.
The foam backing is still there.
Guess I'll have to add a review after I know for sure.

Patty

[NDK]

The wheel I redid (KN 280 soft wheel) is a bit stiffer after I recoated it.

But... I used WAY more than I needed. It's probably 1/16" thick. But on a positive note it still works like a soft wheel smoothing out the flat spots from the hard wheels and it is wearing like iron. I forget how much diamond powder I used but it was at least 10 carats.

I have the powder to recoat our 600 soft KN wheel, I just need to find the time to get to it. I'm planning to coat it much thinner than the 280

[Rockoonz]

There are toughened epoxies that have a polymer in the resin, I used them for cold bonding rubber at work.
A quick search on Amazon for flexible epoxy mainly brought up marine epoxy, a brand called Total Boat sounds promising. Also West System G-flex.

[Rockoonz]

As far as Earth Brite, Tony mentioned in another thread that in the coarser grits their recoats are fine, but the finer grits could have imperfections.
I really do want to get a couple old 280 wheels redone in 220 mesh, perhaps I will soon and make a review thread. I personally have no interest to DIY this, the time consumed vs savings ratio has me coming out $7 bux an hour for the labor, fine on a monetized YouTube channel, not so much in real life.

[liveoak]

Feb 21, 2024 8:50:39 GMT -5 Rockoonz said:

There are toughened epoxies that have a polymer in the resin, I used them for cold bonding rubber at work.
A quick search on Amazon for flexible epoxy mainly brought up marine epoxy, a brand called Total Boat sounds promising. Also West System G-flex.

Thanks Lee, makes sense on the polymer.

Funny, Tom was telling me over breakfast about the flexible epoxy.

We've used Total Boats products over the years.

Even better, you can order it on Amazon without the hazmat charge.

If I looked at all the things we do and considered the hourly pay, I'd be done.

Think of the new skill I'm going to learn

Patty

[Rockoonz]

Feb 21, 2024 9:09:00 GMT -5 liveoak said:

If I looked at all the things we do and considered the hourly pay, I'd be done.
Think of the new skill I'm going to learn
Patty

True nuff, but I'm pretty sure even with the close to 100 linear feet of bench space I could set up here I already have enough stuff to fill it all, so there's that. Plastics places like Tap Plastics on the W coast sell color concentrates for epoxies as well, you can even color code if you want that OG look.