Types of
Grinding (Taken from Society of Manufacturing Engineers
website at www.sme.org)
Cylindrical
grinding: In cylindrical grinding, the workpiece rotates
about a fixed axis and the surfaces machined are concentric
to
that
axis
of rotation.
Cylindrical grinding produces an external surface that may
be either straight, tapered, or contoured. The basic components
of a cylindrical
grinder include a wheelhead, which incorporate the spindle
and drive motor; a cross-slide, that moves the wheelhead
to and from the workpiece;
a headstock, which locates, holds, and drives the workpiece;
and a tailstock, which holds the other end of the work.
Centerless
grinding: In centerless grinding, the workpiece rotates
between a grinding
wheel and a regulating
drive wheel. The work is supported from below
by a fixed work-rest blade. The two basic modes of centerless
grinding are "thru-feed" and "in-feed" or "plunge" mode.
In the thru-feed mode, the work proceeds in the axial direction
through the slowly narrowing gap between the grinding wheel
and the regulating
wheel. Work is advanced by the axial force exerted on it by
the rotating surface of the regulating wheel. This is a highly
productive form
of grinding in that a number of workpieces can be ground simultaneously
and in a continuous stream. The "infeed" mode is
used for work with projecting heads that would prohibit "thru-feeding," the
work is placed on the work-rest blade while one wheel is retracted
and fed to an end stop. The wheel is then brought back, reducing
the gap between the wheels, grinding the work.
Surface
Grinding: Surface grinding produces flat, angular, or contoured
surfaces by
feeding work in a horizontal plane beneath a rotating grinding
wheel. Work is most often magnetically attached to the table,
and may be
ground by either a traversing or rotating movement of the
table. Most surface grinding machines use a horizontal spindle
which adjusts up
and down allowing either the edge or the face of the wheel
to contact the work.
The
precision and surface finish obtained through grinding can be
up to ten times better than with either turning or milling. Grinding
is generally the last step in the process before the product is
ready to be shipped back to the customer. EH Tool can maintain
tolerances
as close as 0.0001 with precision surface finishes. Dependant
upon the specs for the project, EH Tool will use the appropriate
equipment
and processes to complete the project on time and on spec.