The machine sets the limits. The wheel decides what you get inside them.
More grinding problems are wheel problems than machine problems. Burn marks, chatter, poor size holding and wheels that glaze after ten minutes usually trace back to abrasive type, grade or dressing practice rather than to the machine the wheel is mounted on.
Aluminium oxide abrasives are the general answer for steel and steel alloys, including hardened tool steel. Silicon carbide suits cast iron, non ferrous metals and non metallics. Carbide tooling needs diamond, and that is not a preference but a requirement: aluminium oxide will not cut tungsten carbide productively at any pressure.
Coarse grit removes stock quickly and leaves a rougher surface. Fine grit does the opposite. The usual mistake is trying to do both jobs with one wheel, then pushing a fine wheel hard enough to burn the part. Rough with a coarser wheel, change down for finishing, and accept the wheel change as part of the cycle.
A hard grade holds its abrasive grains longer. A soft grade releases them sooner, exposing fresh cutting edges. Hard materials generally want a softer grade, so dull grains break away instead of rubbing. Soft materials want a harder grade so the wheel is not consumed unnecessarily.
A wheel that has glazed is no longer cutting, it is rubbing, and rubbing is what produces heat and burn. Dress on a schedule tied to the work rather than waiting for the finish to fail. On a surface grinder that usually means dressing between roughing and finishing, not once at the start of the day.
An unbalanced wheel produces chatter marks that look exactly like a spindle fault. Balancing on a stand before mounting, then dressing on the machine, removes the most common cause of a pattern nobody can explain. A wheel balancing stand is a small accessory next to the cost of a machine.
Coolant carries heat out of the contact zone and flushes swarf out of the wheel. Weak concentration, dirty fluid or a nozzle pointed at the wrong place produces burn on a machine that is mechanically perfect. Check that coolant actually reaches the contact zone through the full stroke, not just at one end.
Servo vertical feed and hydraulic table traverse on a 300 x 600 mm table.
OD and ID grinding on one machine, for shafts, bushes, needle valves and plungers.
CNC punch and pin grinding from 1 mm up to 150 mm, internal and external.
Tell us the part material, its hardness, the stock you need to remove and the finish you are aiming for. We specify a starting wheel with the machine rather than shipping a generic one.
Usually a grade too hard for the material, insufficient dressing, or coolant that is not reaching the contact zone. Check dressing practice before changing the wheel.
Not productively. Carbide needs a diamond wheel and a rigid setup with light infeed.
On a schedule tied to the work rather than to the clock. On finish grinding, dress before each finishing sequence rather than after the part has gone undersize.
Send the part, the problem or the photograph. A specific question gets a specific answer, usually the same working day.
