Grinding machine

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Rotating abrasive wheel on a bench grinder. Rotating grinder.gif
Rotating abrasive wheel on a bench grinder.
Pedal-powered grinding machine, Russia, 1902. 1902 - Grinding machine.jpg
Pedal-powered grinding machine, Russia, 1902.

A grinding machine, often shortened to grinder, is any of various power tools or machine tools used for grinding. It is a type of material removal using an abrasive wheel as the cutting tool. [1] Each grain of the abrasive on the wheel's surface cuts a small chip from the workpiece via shear deformation.

Contents

Grinding as a type of machining is used to finish workpieces that must show high surface quality (e.g., low surface roughness) and high accuracy of shape and dimension. As the accuracy in dimensions in grinding is of the order of 0.000025  mm, in most applications, it tends to be a finishing operation and removes comparatively little metal, about 0.25 to 0.50  mm depth. However, there are some roughing applications in which grinding removes high volumes of metal quite rapidly. Thus, grinding is a diverse field.

Overview

The grinding machine consists of a bed with a fixture to guide and hold the workpiece and a power-driven grinding wheel spinning at the required speed. The wheel’s diameter and the manufacturer’s rating determine the speed. The grinding head can travel across a fixed workpiece, or the workpiece can be moved while the grinding head stays in a fixed position.

Fine control of the grinding head or table position is possible using a vernier calibrated hand wheel or using the features of numerical controls.

Grinding machines remove material from the workpiece by abrasion, which can generate substantial amounts of heat. To cool the workpiece so that it does not overheat and go outside its tolerance, grinding machines incorporate a coolant. The coolant also benefits the machinist as the heat generated may cause burns. In high-precision grinding machines (most cylindrical and surface grinders), the final grinding stages are usually set up so that they remove about 200  nm (less than 1/10000  in) per pass - this generates so little heat that even with no coolant, the temperature rise is negligible.

Types

A surface grinder. SurfaceGrinder-Proth-insetMagChuck.jpg
A surface grinder.
A cylindrical grinder. Cylindrical grinder, Landis, photo 291.png
A cylindrical grinder.

These machines include the:

Centre Grinding Machine Henninger Zentrumschleifmaschine ZS102.jpg
Centre Grinding Machine

See also

References

  1. "Grinding machine | Grinding Wheels, Abrasives, Precision | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-10-31.
  2. "Boron Carbide: Key Properties & Applications". Advanced Ceramic Materials. April 12, 2024. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  3. CNpatent 103770027A