CENTERLESS-GROUND PARTS

41. CENTERLESS-GROUND PARTS

41.1. THE PROCESS
Centerless grinding is an abrasive method for nish-machining cylindrical surfaces. Workpieces are unmounted but pass between two opposed grinding wheels. There are several variations of the process: In through-feed grinding the part passes axially between the main grinding wheel and the regulating wheel; a metal blade supports the workpiece at the correct height. This method is limited to cylindrical parts without heads, shoulders, or other projections that would prevent through movement of the part between the wheels. It is illustrated schematically in Fig. 4.14.1.

Infeed grinding diers from through-feed grinding in that the workpiece

does not move axially during grinding and in that the grinding wheel may be dressed to the shape to which the part is to be ground. The process is comparable with plunge or form grinding on a cylindrical grinder. The grinding wheel is fed into the work and retracts for workpiece removal. The infeed method is not quite as rapid as through-feed grinding. (See Fig. 4.14.2.)

Figure 4.14.1. Through-feed centerless grinding.

Figure 4.14.2. Infeed centerless grinding. (Courtesy Cincinnati Milacron.)

Figure 4.14.3. End-feed centerless grinding. (Courtesy Cincinnati Milacron.) End-feed grinding is used for tapered work. Either the grinding wheel or the
regulating wheel or both are dressed to the proper taper. The workpiece is fed axially to a xed end stop. Figure 4.14.3 illustrates the process.

Internal centerless grinding is used for ring- and sleeve-shaped parts. The
workpiece is supported between three rolls, which establish its location and cause it to rotate. An internal grinding wheel removes stock. Since the part is located from its outside surface, the ground inner surface is nearly perfectly concentric with the outside.

41.2. TYPICAL APPLICATIONS

The centerless-grinding method can be applied to solid parts with diameters as small as 0.1 mm (0.004 in) and as large as 175 mm (7 in). Rings and tubing somewhat larger250 mm (10 in)can be centerless-ground with equipment currently available. Parts as short as 10 mm (0.4 in) and as long as 5 m (16 ft) are centerless-ground. Centerless grinding produces accurate cylindrical surfaces. The method is ideally suited for pins, shafts, and rings when close-tolerance outside diameters, precise roundness, and smooth surfaces or all three are required. Long, slender parts that would be subject to deection in conventional cylindrical grinding can be ground accurately by the centerless method. Screw threads also can be ground with this process. For through-feed grinding, the surface to be ground must be a straight cylinder. If the part has two or more diameters, only the largest can be ground with the through-feed method. Figure 4.14.4 shows a variety of parts ground with the through-feed centerless method. The infeed method is slightly slower but possesses the advantage of having the capability of producing multidiameter or formed surfaces. Tapered parts or parts with steps are ground with this method. Valve tappets, arbors, yoke pins, shackle bolts, and distributor shafts are typical examples.

Figure 4.14.4. A variety of parts produced with through-feed centerless grinding. (Courtesy Cincinnati Milacron.)

41.3. ECONOMIC PRODUCTION QUANTITIES

Centerless grinding is primarily a mass-production process. It combines high output levels with the precision of nished dimensions. Short parts processed by the through-feed method and using an automatic magazine or hopper feed can be centerless-ground at rates as high as 6000 pieces per hour. Times may be considerably longer for end-feed or infeed processed parts, particularly the latter when larger diameters, greater stock removals, or multiple diameters are involved. For infeed grinding, a rate of 30 to 240 pieces per hour is more typical. For through-feed grinding, production rates are more easily stated in terms of length processed per minute. Rates range from 1 to 4 m/min (3 to 12 ft/min) per pass to as much as 9 m/min (30

ft/min) per pass. From one to six passes may be involved. Centerless grinding is more rapid than conventional cylindrical grinding because loading and unloading time is much shorter. There is also no need for drilling center holes on the ends of the workpiece. Setup times for centerless grinding range from a few minutes to as much as 4 h, depending on the changes required and the machine used. Sometimes a change in the material being ground may require more setup time than a workpiece change because it may entail changes in wheels and coolant. Job shops can group lots of parts of like material and nearly the same diameter and economically process lots of 100 pieces or less. Justication for centerless grinding in comparison with center-type cylindrical grinding depends on the availability of equipment and wheels and other tooling and the complexity of the parts to be ground. Single-diameter parts can be ground as easily with the centerless method as with center-type grinding if quantities are 10 to 25 or more. Complex parts may require quantities of 1000 or more to justify the centerless approach.

41.4. SUITABLE MATERIALS

Centerless grinding has the same broad range capability for processing various materials as the other grinding processes have. However, there is one bonus with centerless grinding: brittle, fragile, and easily distorted parts and materials are more suitable for centerless than for conventional centertype cylindrical grinding. With the centerless method, parts are supported along all or most of their length, and there is no end pressure or deection from wheel pressure. This makes the grinding of glass, porcelain, rubber, plastics, cork, and other brittle or easily distorted materials more practical on centerless equipment. For comments on the suitability of most materials to grinding methods in general, see Chap. 4.15, Flat-Ground Surfaces.

41.5. DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS

The following suggestions should be kept in mind by the designers wishing to take maximum advantage of the centerless-grinding approach.

1. If possible, the ground surface of the workpiece should be its largest diameter to permit the use of through-feed grinding. (See Fig. 4.14.5.) 2. Short pieces are more susceptible to having unspecied taper or concave or barrel-shaped surfaces. To help avoid this problem, keep ground surfaces at least one diameter in length if possible. (See Fig. 4.14.6.) 3. Parts with irregular shapes cannot have a ground surface longer than the grinding-wheel width unless the shape permits a combination of infeed and through-feed grinding. (See Fig. 4.14.7.) 4. It is preferable to avoid grinding the ends of infeed centerless-ground parts. This stricture includes radii on the ends of parts. If the end must be nished, avoid

Figure 4.14.5. Only the largest diameter of the workpiece can be through-feed centerless-ground. If a smaller diameter must be centerless-ground, as in the left-hand part, the slower plunge centerless-grinding method must be used.

Figure 4.14.6. The width of a centerless-ground part should be at least as large as its diameter.

Figure 4.14.7. Parts with irregular surfaces can-not be longer than the width of the grinding wheel unless both infeed and through-feed are used and the part is stepped in one direction as shown.
square, nearly square, or round ends. The included angle of a pointed end should be 120 or less. (See Fig. 4.14.8.) 5. As with cylindrical grinding, it is best to avoid llets and radii and instead use undercut or relief surfaces. This eliminates dicult wheel dressing when there is a llet. (See Figs. 4.13.2a and 4.13.5.) When radii or llets are used, they should be as large as possible, and on any one part all of them should be the same size to simplify wheel dressing. 6. When a part is designed for form centerless grinding (infeed method), the form should be as simple as possible to reduce wheel dressing and other costs. 7. If accuracy is critical, avoid keyways, ats, holes, and other interruptions to the surface to be ground or make them as small as possible. (See Fig. 4.13.3.)

Figure 4.14.8. Do not design the ends of centerless-ground parts to have ground surfaces unless infeed grinding is used and the end surface has an included angle of less than 120.
8. If a at is necessary at the end of a shaft to provide a surface against which a setscrew is to be tightened or for some other reason, and if tolerances are tight, it is preferable to put ats on opposite sides of the part. This prevents the tendency for a high spot to develop opposite the at. Another remedy is to retain a full cylindrical section at the end of the shaft. (See Fig. 4.14.9.)

Figure 4.14.9. When interruptions are unavoidable, balance them if possible or provide full cylindrical surfaces on both sides.

41.6. DIMENSIONAL FACTORS

Like other grinding methods, centerless grinding can be extremely accurate if all conditions are correct. These conditions include the condition of the equipment, particularly wheel-spindle bearings, the use of the proper wheel and coolant, and the evenness of the temperature of the workpiece, machine, and coolant. Roundness control in centerless grinding is remarkably good even though the part does not rotate about a xed center. The reason for this is the geometry of the setup of grinding wheel, regulating wheel, and workpiece support, which, if correct, systematically cause the grinding action to remove the high spots of a part as it is rotated against the wheels. Another favorable factor in centerless grinding is the fact that the setting of the grinding wheel aects the diameter of the workpiece rather than the

radius from its center point, as in conventional cylindrical grinding. Thus a

factor of 2 is involved in the accuracy of wheel settings. Table 4.14.1 presents recommendations for dimensional tolerances for production centerless grinding.

Table 4.14.1. Recommended Dimensional Tolerances for Centerless Ground Parts

Recommended tolerance Dimension Diameter Normal 0.0125 mm (0.0005 in) Tight 0.0025 mm (0.0001 in) Parallelism 0.0125 mm (0.0005 in) 0.0025 mm (0.0001 in) Surface nish 0.20 m (8 in) 0.05 m (2 in)

Citation
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James G.Bralla: Design for Manufacturability Handbook, Second Edition. CENTERLESS-GROUND PARTS, Chapter (McGraw-Hill Professional, 1999, 1986), AccessEngineering

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