Dressing grinding wheels offline allows manufacturers to use their grinding equipment for production, reduces set up time, improves quality, and ultimately increases throughput. Manual contour dressers are operator-dependent and inconsistent, affecting the quality of the grind and increasing scrap rates. Utilization of a contour dresser generally requires more frequent dressing, reducing the lifespan of the wheel and increasing consumable costs.

Glebar's DM-9CNC Wheel Dressing Machine is a stand-alone machine that provides operators with the ability to dress grinding wheels while the grinder is in production. Available for 9" and 10" diameter wheels, the machine CNC dresses precision contours in vitrified grinding wheels. The shape can be transferred from a CAD drawing into G-code which the DM-9CNC can read to form the wheel. Alternatively, for simpler geometry, the operator can enter the dress profile in a tabulated form on the 15" touch screen HMI. A diamond plated dress roller is powered by a high-speed brushless servo motor offering high torque and closed-loop velocity control up to 10,000 RPM. Additionally, two axis servo-driven slides use a 0.1 micron glass scale to precisely position the dress roller.

"Dressing wheels off of the grinding wheel or other abrasive tool for the purpose of removing metal and finishing workpieces to close tolerances. Provides smooth, square, parallel and accurate workpi…" title="Powers a grinding wheel or other abrasive tool for the purpose of removing metal and finishing workpieces to close tolerances. Provides smooth, square, parallel and accurate workpi…" aria-label="Glossary: grinding machine">grinding machine itself has typically been a manual operation requiring a highly skilled technician, often resulting in rework and increased set up time. Once the DM-9CNC is set up, it can run unmanned, shaping a grinding wheel for your specific application," explained John Bannayan, CTO at Glebar Company. "This allows the manufacturer to run their grinding machine process while simultaneously truing a wheel for the next job, reducing set up time and increasing overall output."

When purchasing a machine isn't practical, Glebar offers its customers wheel dressing as a service using the DM-9CNC Wheel Dressing Machine.