Ask The Grinding Doc

Articles • September 23, 2025 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Final Thing To Do Before Grinding

The Grinding Doc resolves a debate over whether a shop should balance a wheel before grinding or dress a wheel before grinding.

Articles • July 21, 2025

Grinding Fatigue

The Grinding Doc reviews a recent finding that bad grinding caused an Alaska Air Boeing 737's landing gear to fail during landing on Aug. 30, 2023.

Articles • February 19, 2025 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Exit Nozzle: A Good Idea?

Shop asks the Grinding Doc to address whether mounting a nozzle at the wheel/workpiece exit point can improve coolant effectiveness in grinding operations.

Articles • January 20, 2025 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Big, Dull Grits Bad, And Other Tips

The Grinding Doc addresses questions about large grits versus small grits, the pros and cons of overhead dressers, and avoiding natural frequencies.

Articles • August 21, 2024 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Blanchard Grinding

Blanchard grinding: balance downfeed rates to maintain wheel sharpness without excessive wear, adjusting for wheel hardness and machine power.

Articles • July 9, 2024 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Reduce Edge Chipping

The Grinding Doc offers three ways to reduce edge-chipping

Articles • May 6, 2024 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Barber pole

The Grinding Doc breaks down the causes and solutions for these workpiece spiral marks.

Articles • March 5, 2024 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Overhanging wheels, making your wheel ‘act harder’

Learn why The Grinding Doc is a fan of downfeeding on the workpiece and the meaning of an old adage.

Articles • January 8, 2024 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Chatter stability map

With chatter, things quickly get complicated.

Articles • December 19, 2023 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Nital etching, setting up a lab

Tips to reduce the uncertainty of this very subjective test

Articles • September 12, 2023 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Vertical spindle Blanchard-style

The Grinding Doc shares observations and general trends on this grinding style

Articles • May 12, 2023 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Hybrids, temperatures and chatter

The Grinding Doc explains why he is a fan of hybrid bond wheels.