5 Surprising Centerless Grinding Applications
There’s nothing better than seeing young people pursuing manufacturing careers and carrying on the critical legacy of American manufacturing. However, as a new generation of buyers replaces those reaching retirement age, certain things can inevitably get lost in the transition—for example, the knowledge of and excitement about old-school technologies like precision centerless grinding.
Precision centerless grinding may not seem as thrilling as innovative new technologies at first glance, but there’s a reason it’s still relevant in the world of modern manufacturing. In fact, centerless grinding is capable of much more than many realize.
Let’s take a look at five surprising centerless grinding applications.
1. Grinding Multiple Features and Diameters
Using a technique called crush grinding, we can grind multiple features and diameters at the same time. There is also the option of grinding the features one at a time, depending on the final geometry. United CGTR even makes the carbide crush roll tooling required for this process in-house using our CNC profile grinding capabilities.
The upfront cost of the tooling can range from $1,800 to $4,000, so we don’t recommend this approach for low volumes. However, if you need a high volume of parts, the upfront investment is worth it for the time and money you can save by having all the features and diameters ground simultaneously.
2. Achieving Tight Concentricity Tolerances
Identifying the right vendors and processes to achieve tight GD&T tolerances, such as concentricity, can be difficult for buyers. Our ability to grind multiple diameters simultaneously enables us to achieve concentricity tolerances down to 0.1.”
3. Completing Entire Parts
Another benefit of grinding multiple features and diameters is that we can complete an entire part from a solid blank with precision centerless grinding. Yes, that means conventional CNC machining processes like milling or turning aren’t necessary to cut features such as chamfers, undercuts, and grooves.
While many customers choose to rough out parts using conventional machining before sending them to us to make them straighter, rounder, and more precise, we can save you that initial step by creating custom tooling to get the job done. As mentioned, this approach is best for high volumes due to the initial cost of the tooling.
4. Replacing a Lathe for High Volumes
Lathes are often the first machines that come to mind when it comes to the manufacturing of cylindrical parts. However, precision centerless grinding can be a better option for volumes of 100 parts or more. With minimal setup and fast cycle times, centerless grinding enables economical high-volume production runs.
5. Achieving Spherical Radii and Tapers
Two features many are surprised to hear we can achieve with precision centerless grinding are spherical radii and tapers.
We can grind spherical radii in mere seconds per part, achieving smooth surface finishes and completing as many as 10,000+ pieces per week. Regarding cone-shaped or tapered parts such as mandrels, CNC turning is often the go-to process. However, there are many benefits to using precision centerless grinding instead, including better speed, precision, and repeatability.
Could Your Part Benefit from Precision Centerless Grinding?
The next time you see United CGTR on your approved supplier list, our hope is that you’ll consider the many precision centerless grinding applications. As manufacturing technology continues to evolve at an exciting pace, precision centerless grinding maintains its well-earned reputation as a trusted old-school process.
