To anyone who wants to shave down their MBS wheels a Bench Grinder will work great! I initially went looking for a lathe to use like so many others seem to be doing but thought I would give the Bench grinder a go. Make sure to cover the bearings with paper towels while you hold down on them with your pointer and middle fingers (keeps out the shavings) then let the machine do all the work. As it grinds the wheel it will naturally want to spin down, simultaneously put pressure on the wheel with your thumbs to make the wheel spin to your desired speed. The first wheel took some tinkering to figure out a method then after you get a method down it will take less than 2 minutes per wheel. Im sure the lathe works well but this is definitely another option.They come out smooth and ready to hit the street!
The wheel on your grinder is at most about 1 inch wide, did you have to move the wheel around horizontally in order to achieve a uniform flat patch?
I used a 1.5" thick grind wheel I believe. I did have to move it just a tiny tiny hair back and forth horizontally at the very end but it was not an issue. This was on an old farm bench grinder but Im pretty sure you can find grind wheels up to 3" thick. A 1" inch thick grind wheel should work too if you take the time but with much more lateral movement.
I also stopped shaving once I got to the 2nd to last tread*
Oh got it!
What would you say is the size of the new contact patch?
The new contact patch is 1 and 7/8 inches. Getting down to that final tread layer should not take terribly long just with normal riding wear to achieve the full 2.5" contact patch considering each tread layer is less than half a mm of thickness. This way you can ease down to the widest contact patch relatively quickly just riding then still maintain the maximum diameter of the wheel.
Do you think this would work with an oscillating spindle sander?