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Grinding: A Machining Process
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Grinding
Grinding is a machining process used to improve
surface finish, cut hard materials, and tighten the tolerance on flat and
cylindrical part surfaces by removing a very small amount of material. While
the grinding process has been vastly improved upon with the addition of
CNC it is still a very slow way to remove stock from a part. It is a near
must when you need to achieve one of the following:
- A very high surface finish.
- Very tight tolerances on both flat and round areas. (0.0005 to 0.000050
inches)
- Flatness over large surface areas requiring compliance within
0.001 inches.
- Removal of finish materials is difficult utilizing
other machining processes due to the materials hardness.
There are a variety of grinding methods and machines that perform them.
A few of these machining methods are Surface Grinding, Cylindrical Grinding,
Internal Grinding, Centerless Grinding and Vertical Surface Grinding
among others.
CNC Grinding
Grinding operations of all kinds like outside
diameter (OD) grinding and internal diameter (ID) grinding are also being
done on CNC grinders. CNC
has even opened up a new technology, c ontour grinding, previously infeasible
due to technology constraints.
CNC grinders are equipped with a computer consisting of one or more microprocessors
and storage units, a user interface for programming and other interfaces
that enable the CNC grinding machines to work in conjunction with CAD/CAM
software systems. All of this enables a CNC machinist to instruct the
CNC grinding machine to execute the exact movements necessary to create
the precision ground part.
Centerless Grinding
Centerless grinding is utilized when
you need to grind material from the outside diameter of a cylindrical part
or bar without the use of centers. Because no centers are drilled into the
ends of the part or bar to assist with work holding the part is held in
place during the grinding process by the grinding wheel, a work rest blade
and the regulating wheel. Pressure is applied during the process to remove
a desired amount of material. Utilizing this method, parts can be ground
speedily and without much human intervention. The maintenance required may
be as simple as feeding the parts into the grinder, occasionally dressing
the wheels and adjusting the size settings so that parts maintain tolerance.
Cylindrical Grinding
The CNC cylindrical grinding process
is also used for grinding the outside diameters of a part. Configured much
like a lathe, the cylindrical grinder has a head and tail stock. The grinding
wheel is typically positioned at the back of the machine and traverses the
length of the part during the grinding process. The cylindrical part or
bar is often held during this process on centers which have drilled into
the part in preparation for grinding. CNC variables that need to be managed
to achieve the desired finish and tolerance include grinding wheel speed,
work speed and the traverse speed.
Surface Grinding
Surface grinders are used to grind flat
parts into the proper level of finish and tolerance. The surface grinder
has a simple configuration that consists of a moveable table with a horizontally
mounted spindle above it. The table (often magnetic) typically acts as the
work holding device in the surface grinding operation. The surface table
moves left to right and in and out ensuring that the grinding wheel covers
the entire work area and does not linger too long in one portion of the
surface. The horizontal spindle that has the grinding wheel attached to
it may be adjusted in height to determine the amount of material to be removed
in one pass. Successive adjustments are typically necessary to finish the
part.
Internal Grinding
If your part requires extreme accuracy
from inside diameters then chances are that it requires internal grinding.
Internal grinding can achieve close tolerances even if your part has been
pre-hardened. Internal grinding can be accomplished on a wide range of hole
sizes.
While the size of the internal grinder is determined by the work holding
diameter and the length of the grinding stroke careful attention must be
paid to the length of cut to ensure accuracy. The basic configuration of
an internal grinder consists of a work drive (which holds the part), the
work piece or the part being ground and the grinding wheel which is mounted
on a mandrel. Typically internal grinding requires higher RPMs than other
grinding methods in order to cut efficiently.
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