Advantages to Lathing Skate Wheels

A competitive skater must keep their skate wheels in fine condition at all times and Snyder Skate Company recommends lathing as opposed to grinding the wheels for the following reasons:
1.) Lathing of wheels will keep the concentricity of all four wheels so that they are not out of round.
2.) When the wheel is lathed, only the amount necessary to be skimmed off is taken off.
3.) It is possible to lathe a wheel down to the minimum usable size allowed with all eight wheels being the same size.
4.) When a wheel is lathed a good clean cut is obtained and the wheels come away from the lathe as through brand new.
5.) The materials from which wheels are manufactured today such as high-rebound urethane, produce a lot of friction when being ground and the excess material balls up on the surface or the wheel instead of being ground off. However, when a wheel is lathed this problem does not occur, provided the cutting edge of the lathe is kept sharp.
6.) A skater can achieve a better grip from the floor with wheels that are lathed, since all eight wheels will be able to have greater area of wheel surface contacting with the skating floor.
7.) The surface of a lathed wheel is much smoother than that of a ground wheel. Grinding wheels results in a rough pitted type surface. There are portable lathes available on the market today, which can be carried Anywhere, for use at meets or practice sessions and can be plugged into an 110V electrical outlet. It is not necessary to remove the bearings from the wheels, since these portable lathes can turn down the wheels with bearings already inserted.