Centerless grinding

Centerless grinding is a method of material removal through grinding, similar to centered grinding except for the absence of the spindle. It has high throughput, i.e., a large number of parts can be manufactured in a short time.

The workpiece is set up between the regulating wheel (or back up wheel) and the grinding wheel, and is supported by the work blade or work rest. The work rest is located between the wheels. The work is placed on the work rest, and the latter together with the regulating wheel is fed forward forcing the work against the grinding wheel. Axial movement of the work past the grinding wheel is accomplished by tilting the regulating wheel at a slight angle from horizontal. An angular adjustment of 0 to 8 or 10 degrees is provided in the machine for this purpose.

Centerless grinding is classified into two types:

Throughfeed grinding - the workpiece is fed into the machine along the work blade
Plunge grinding - the workpiece is placed between the wheels on a work blade and the grinding wheel is plunged into the workpiece.

Some of the benefits of centerless grinding include the ability to grind parts with geometries that do not allow them to be OD ground, the ability to remove three, five and other odd numbered lobing on the shaft of a part, and to maintain size beyond what is typically capable of an OD grinder due to the low overall pressures spaced out along the workpiece.

An example of a centerless ground application is the outer diameter of the bearing races.

A centerless grinder
A close-up of the grinding wheel and back-up wheel

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