How many cuts do you get out of your edger?

[nate509]

As the title states: Haw many cuts do you get out of your edger? Does anyone ever bother changing the wheel out?

I'm running a Topcon ALE 5100 and have about 35,000 cuts on it and the roughing whell is starting to dull, so I'm deciding on replacing the wheel or just starting fresh on a new machine.


Nate

[kcount]

If your happy with the machine change out the wheels. I know guys that are still running Mark 5's and simply swap the wheels when necessary.

[Speed]

If your happy with the machine change out the wheels. I know guys that are still running Mark 5's and simply swap the wheels when necessary.

That is confusing. I think you mean "If you are...." . Totally different definition.

[Speed]

As the title states: Haw many cuts do you get out of your edger? Does anyone ever bother changing the wheel out?

I'm running a Topcon ALE 5100 and have about 35,000 cuts on it and the roughing whell is starting to dull, so I'm deciding on replacing the wheel or just starting fresh on a new machine.


Nate

Nate
What makes you think it is getting dull?

[Jacqui]

Is it dull or just getting plugged up??

[optical24/7]

Buy a new wheel. (if you like the edger) If you run a lot of trivex and poly, it's overdue. (If it's cr only you're just now breaking it in..) trivex eat's regular wheels. Get a wheel designed for trixex. It eats the stuff better, breezes through poly and goes through cr like butter.

I change mine out well under 15k. I think of my wheels like my razors..Yea, a month old razor will shave me, but a new one cuts cleaner and faster. A roughing wheel is cheap compared to some lenses out today. Just a couple of spoilages related to them would pay for them. (Another aggravation avoided...priceless..)

[nate509]

I removed the wheel for further inspection and you can feel the portion of the wheel where the initial contact is made is getting dull. Since the last post I have ordered a new wheel. Since the guts of the machine are still going strong I liked the $500 for a new wheel much more than the price for a new machine altogether.

Nate

[fjpod]

35,000 cuts...that's a long time to have a mostly dull cutting surface. One of the things I like about dry cutters is the fact that the cutting surface is changed often.

[eyemanflying]

35,000 cuts...that's a long time to have a mostly dull cutting surface. One of the things I like about dry cutters is the fact that the cutting surface is changed often.

I agree. Just like a fresh razor every 300 pairs.

[scriptfiller]

My monthly cost to operate my NOP 6E is $10 for a new blade. My monthly downtime is 5 mins. to change the blade.

[DragonLensmanWV]

I use the extended life blades to get around 1200-1500 cuts depending on product mix on my 6E.

[WFruit]

Well, we just had Santinelli change the bevel and polish wheels on our ME-1000....99,134 lenses (they were here for something else anyway, so we had them go through all of our machines from them). The roughing wheel we just took out and flipped over, it's still good.

The polish wheel was starting to be a bit spotty on the edge polishes, and the bevel wheel was taking about twice as long as it should have to run a lens through. Other than that, the lenses were still coming out on size and shape.

[fjpod]

I use the extended life blades to get around 1200-1500 cuts depending on product mix on my 6E.

We tried those, but found issues on high minus poly with a/R at around 600 cuts. Felt the extra cost wasn't worth it. With a 300 cut blade, we are never too far from changing it, so we sometimes save a tough job a day or two for a new blade. Never a problem.

Now if I was edging CR39 all day, I would keep my 300 cut blades for 3000 jobs.