Types of Centerless Grinding and Their Uses, Advantage

Hello friends, Today I am going to discuss types of centerless grinding and their uses, advantages, etc.

Centerless grinding machine is the types of grinding machine like surface grinding machine, tool and cutter grinding machine, cylindrical grinding machine, etc.

Centerless grinding is a mechanical process that involves a special cut called an abrasive cut.  

The main purpose of this process is to remove the material from a workpiece.  

It differs from center or cylindrical grinding because centerless grinding does not use any spindle or any accessories like jig and fixture to remove the workpiece.

So without wasting time let's know step by step centerless grinding and their types, uses.

What is Centerless Grinding?

Centerless grinding is a grinding method by which we grind the outer and inner surfaces of a cylindrical workpiece.

In centerless grinding, the workpiece is neither held between the center nor rotated.

Types of Centerless Grinding

Centerless grinding can be classified into the following types:

• According to the operation of grinding
• According to the methods of feed

According to the operation of grinding

According to the operation of grinding, centerless grinding can be divided into two types:

• External Centerless Grinding
• Internal Centerless Grinding

See in the figure external and internal centerless grinding which are described below.

Types of Centerless Grinding

External Centerless Grinding

These types of centerless grinding are used to grind the external parts of the workpiece like rollers, pistons, tubes, etc.

The external centerless grinding method consists of two wheels first one is the grinding wheel and the second one is regulating wheel.

In which the grinding wheel rotates at a higher speed and also the regulating wheel rotates in the same direction with lower speed.

There is a work rest or supporting rest in between the two wheels on which we keep the workpiece and we do grinding with the help of regulating wheel.

Internal Centerless Grinding

These types of centerless grinding are used to grind the inner portion of the workpiece or a job like tubes, holes, and much more.

In this, there are three rollers used to support the job, the first is called the regulating roll, the second is the supporting roll, and the third is called the pressure roll.

These three rolls hold the workpiece firmly.

In this method grinding wheel is placed inside the workpiece or a job and rotated by the regulating wheel.

According to the methods of feed

According to the methods of feed, centerless grinding can be divided into three types:

• Through Feed Centerless Grinding
• Infeed Centerless Grinding 
• End Feed Centerless Grinding

Through Feed Grinding 

In these types of centerless grinding, the workpiece completely fed through the grinding wheels. 

In this method of grinding the workpiece is completely passed through the space between the grinding wheel and the regulating wheel and there are guides at both ends.  

The method is often used for plane parallel parts such as rollers, pins, etc.  

This method is also used for grinding the diameter of long bars.

Infeed Grinding 

This type of centerless grinding is used where the workpieces are complex in shape. 

These types of centerless grinding are particularly used when it is necessary to grind the parts of the workpieces.

This method is similar to plunge grinding.

In this grinding, the workpiece is placed on the work rest against support.  

The control wheel and work rest with the workpiece are then pushed forward against the grinding wheel by hand.  

This method is mostly used for grinding of shoulders and projected formed surfaces. 

End Feed Grinding

In this method, the workpiece is fed lengthwise between the wheels and grinded as it progresses till it reaches the end stop.  

This method is often used for a component with heads that are too long to grind by the plunge cut method.

Advantage of Centerless Grinding 

There are the following advantages of centerless grinding:

• No center or chuck is required for work holding. 
• Less time is required for completing work.
• It can grind large quantities of workpieces or a job at one time so centerless grinding is used for production work. 
• The size of the work is easily controlled.
• It also has the ability to grind brittle or distorted types of the workpiece. 
• It has a longer yield and wheel life.
• Thin workpieces can be easy to grind.  
• It is beneficial for production operations.
• Less skill is required to operate the machine. 
• The workpiece does not need to be checked during work.

So friends here I discussed types of centerless grinding and their uses, advantages.

I hope you all like this post.


Thank You.