When it comes to making metal things more optimally-shaped, modern industry has a number of extremely effective tools with decades (and in some cases, centuries) of heritage, such as OD grinding – but nothing is quite as effective in machining steel and other industry metals as the grinding wheel.
It’s pretty basic – a perfectly-round wheel made of a number of different choice materials, and it’s rotated at high speeds to shave off metal. The exact materials depend on the job that needs to get done. The most common composition for a grinding wheel is aluminum oxide, used mostly for steel. Then there’s silicon carbide, for most things softer than steel.
Finally, superabrasives like diamond and cubic boron nitride cut through things like nothing else does, and are used in about five percent of grinding as per Stanford.
Aside from materials, the kind of grinding needs to be considered. When it comes to smoothing and machining cylinder shapes, cylinder grinding methods like the outside diameter grind or OD grinding, are essential.
What is an OD Grind?
An outside diameter grind involves a workpiece (the thing being surface grinded) held against a grinding wheel by being pinned on the center of its ends.
However, while this can be used to plunge in and affect cylinders by adding things like tapering and such, OD grinding from reputable providers like Minnesota Grinding saves the most time when a single machine has the capacity to complete machine a workpiece without requiring several different processes to finish it.
Why a Single Point Solution Saves Time
That’s where a single point OD system comes into handy. Through machining a workpiece with a tilting, thinner grinding wheel, most industrially-relevant geometries are easily doable as per MMS Online, and the finished product is always impressive.
Finding a Quality Grinding Solutions Provider
Choosing the right grinding provider to help you with grinding operations may not require going strictly local. Plenty of providers offer free quotes and even shipping through the Internet, allowing you to simplify the process of finding the right provider by narrowing it down through price and reputation.
