The Doctor Will See You at IMTS

Dear Doc: I have a grinding problem. I’m looking for free advice. Do you do free advice?

The Doc replies: If a question comes in from a company that has sent people to my courses or brought me on site, I’m happy to offer my opinion on a grinding problem. But if an unknown person calls me out of the blue asking for advice? Usually not. I’ve spent years building my knowledge base — often while camped out on a shop floor or poring through academic grinding articles and translating them into practical terms that can be used on the shop floor. Often, nobody was paying me. I then spend weeks putting this information into “The Book of Grinding” in a format that can be imparted during my courses or company visits.

But there is one exception: IMTS. I get antsy sitting at a booth all day. I’m happier when people come by with an interesting grinding problem.

Here’s how it works: Send me an email with a brief description of the problem you are facing. I’ll see if it’s within my expertise. (Many problems are not, which I am more than willing to admit.) If it is, then I ask that you go to www.TheGrindingDoc.com and download The Grinding Doc’s Interrogation Sheet. Fill it out and send it to me, along with photos. I’ll examine your situation and get my head around it. Then we discuss it at IMTS.

But communication has to be good. Often, people say something like, “We have burn on the right portion of the flank side of the workpiece. Except when it’s on the bottom of the left side. What do we do?” They’ve been working on this part for years. The whole situation is very clear to them. They think that’s enough information for me to help them. It’s not. To somebody approaching this geometry for the first time, it’s not clear.

For me to help, I will need all the information about the situation that I can get, including:

• a photo of the part,
• a sketch of how the wheel is approaching it,
• all the grinding and dressing parameters sketched out (no G-Code, please),
• all the depth-to-remove information for each (no cell-phone photos of the CNC panel, please),
• the wheel specification and the specific material type,
• when the wheel is dressing, the geometry of the dresser, etc.,
• a photo of the cooling set-up.

So, basically, I need everything. If communication is clear, then we can properly discuss the situation at IMTS.

Sometimes we fix the problem right away. Sometimes we don’t, but I should be able to point you in the direction of where the problem is being created. In my grinding courses, I often use the quote: “Knowing is half the battle.” And then I fully cite my source: GI Joe.

Many times I’ve said: “The source of the problem is X. Now, I don’t know your machine controls well enough to know how to avoid X. But it’s coming from X.” Often, that’s enough. They go back to the machine, mess around, and come up with a way to deal with it. Problem solved.

Then there are those problems where I say, “Jeez. I dunno, man. Yeah, I have no idea. You got me. That’s a tricky one.” In the early days of my career, this answer used to bother me. Nowadays, it bothers me less. In these instances, I try to connect the person asking the question with somebody who might have an answer.

So, if you’re attending IMTS and want to chat about grinding, let’s do it. Cutting Tool Engineering has been kind enough to give me a small table at their booth. Contact me beforehand to arrange a time.

about the author: Jeffrey Badger, Ph.D., is an independent grinding expert. He is holding his popular three-day High Intensity Grinding Course Oct. 27–29 in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Dec. 8–10 in Gothenburg, Sweden; and Feb. 16–18, 2027, in Columbia, South Carolina. Visit www.TheGrindingDoc.com.

Image file name: Fish-scale chatter.png

credit: J. Badger

Caption: A common question is about fish-scale chatter. You can’t fix it with different grinding parameters. Nor with cooling. Nor with a different wheel. Nor with a stiffer spindle. Half the battle is knowing where it comes from. Once you know, the solution is often straightforward.