Keeping the diamonds in your tooling open so they can continually cut into the concrete is essential to getting a good performance. But what happens if your diamonds close off and stop effectively grinding the concrete? Watch the video below and read on for tips on how to deglaze your diamond tooling as well as some of the factors that cause diamonds in tooling to glaze over.
Why Does Diamond Tooling Glaze Over?
In this case, glazing simply refers to dulling, meaning the diamonds have dulled during use and aren’t cutting into the concrete to create a profile or remove a coating. In order for diamond tooling to remain sharp, there needs to be some type of abrasion, similar to using a stone to sharpen a blade. Grinding on a softer or wet slab offers that abrasion needed to keep the tooling sharp and performing properly, but if you’re working on a hard, dry slab, there won’t be any abrasion.
How to Tell Your Diamonds Have Glazed Over
As you’re working, the most telling sign that your diamonds have dulled is that you aren’t getting the scratch pattern you were getting when you started. There won’t be as much dust left behind, and the floor may even take on a shine.
How to Deglaze Your Diamond Tooling
Once you determine that your diamonds have glazed over, it’s pretty easy to get them open. You simply need to provide abrasion in the slab to sharpen them again. We recommend laying down a thin layer of sand over an area and over top of this, spray a light mist of water. You don’t want to add so much water that you’re wet grinding the floor, you just want to add enough moisture to add a bit of weight to the sand and keep it from blowing away or being vacuumed up when you get closer to it with the grinder.
As the grinder passes over the sand on top of the concrete, it will sharpen the diamonds and expose the points in the tooling so it can cut more effectively. Doing this, you’ll see almost an immediate improvement in the performance of your floor grinder.
We recommend using a 50-pound bucket of fine mesh sand per 1,000 square feet of space, though you may not need anywhere near that much. Using an abrasive can reduce the lifespan of your diamonds, but it’s also important to have diamonds that cut through concrete and get better results.
Order Diamond Tooling and Other Surface Preparation Equipment Today
If you are in need of high-quality, durable diamonds and other surface preparation equipment, we have everything you need to get the job done right. To place an order or learn more about the tooling that may be right for you, call us today at (815) 472-9754 or fill out our contact form to get started!