Grinding

A grinding machine is a machine tool used for grinding, which is a type of machining using an abrasive wheel as the cutting tool. Each grain of abrasive on the wheel’s surface cuts a small chip from the workpiece via shear deformation. Grinding practice is a large and diverse area of manufacturing and toolmaking. It can produce very fine finishes and very accurate dimensions; yet in mass production contexts it can also rough out large volumes of metal quite rapidly. It is usually better suited to the machining of very hard materials than is “regular” machining (that is, cutting larger chips with cutting tools such as tool bits or milling cutters), and until recent decades it was the only practical way to machine such materials as hardened steels. Compared to “regular” machining, it is usually better suited to taking very shallow cuts, such as reducing a shaft’s diameter by half a thou.

The grinding machine consists of a power driven grinding wheel spinning at the required speed (which is determined by the wheel’s diameter and manufacturer’s rating, usually by a formula) and a bed with a fixture to guide and hold the work-piece. The grinding head can be controlled to travel across a fixed work piece or the workpiece can be moved whilst the grind head stays in a fixed position. Very fine control of the grinding head or tables position is possible using a vernier calibrated hand wheel, or using the features of NC or CNC controls.

Grinding machines remove material from the workpiece by abrasion, which can generate substantial amounts of heat; they therefore incorporate a coolant to cool the workpiece so that it does not overheat and go outside its tolerance. The coolant also benefits the machinist as the heat generated may cause burns in some cases. In very high-precision grinding machines (most cylindrical and surface grinders) the final grinding stages are usually set up so that they remove about 2/10000mm (less than 1/100000 in) per pass – this generates so little heat that even with no coolant, the temperature rise is negligible.

Typical Grinding Mahinces:

• Ball Mill
• High Pressure Grinding Mill
• XZM Ultrafine Mill
• MTM Trapezium Mill
• MCF Coarse Powder Mill
• STM Vertical Mill