Ask The Grinding Doc

Articles • April 1, 2016 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

The madness of wheel trials

Dear Doc: I sell grinding wheels and frequently find myself pulling my hair out when recommending wheels to customers. One customer achieved great success with a resin-bond, 400-mesh diamond wheel when grinding ¾"-dia. carbide endmills. It performed like a "superwheel." I then took that same wheel to a customer who also grinds ¾" carbide endmills on the same machine model with the same coolant and it's a disaster. Why?

Articles • February 1, 2016 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Dressing with PCD

Ask the Grinding Doc: When I ran out of single-point dressing diamonds and got desperate, I mounted a PCD insert to dress an Al2O3 wheel. Is there any danger in doing that?

Articles • December 1, 2015 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Learn not to burn

Jeffrey Badger, Ph.D., fields a question from a shop getting "terrible burn on the shoulder" when cylindrical grinding steel parts with a straight plunge.

Articles • August 1, 2015 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Multirib grinding wheels

A machinist who is cylindrical-grinding threads into hardened steel using multiple-rib, vitrified-bond, aluminum-oxide wheels is experiencing breakdown of the thread root, and turned to the Grinding Doc for help.

Articles • June 1, 2015 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Multigrit wheel benefits

The Grinding Doc offers an upbeat take on tri-grit wheels.

Articles • April 1, 2015 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Battling part barreling

Dr. Jeffrey Badger, who authors the Ask the Grinding Doc column, answers questions about barreling and scrubber nozzles.

Articles • February 1, 2015 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Battling grinding burn

Dear Doc: I battle burn and long cycle times when grinding ODs in bearing. The wheel manufacturer has specified a series of wheel changes to solve the problem, but it means buying a lot of new wheels. What's your take?

Articles • December 1, 2014 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

How to purposely burn workpieces

Dr. Jeffrey Badger, Cutting Tool Engineering's Ask the Grinding Doc columnist, cautions readers not to be timid when slowing the workpiece speed to induce burn.

Articles • August 1, 2014 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Finding the grinding sweet spot

The sweet spot is where the grits in a grinding wheel optimally penetrate the workpiece to form a chip -- not too deep and not too shallow.

Articles • June 1, 2014 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

All-or-nothin’ burn

Water is an effective heat conductor, and, if you get an adequate supply of coolant within the pores of the wheel, the coolant will absorb about 70 percent of the heat.

Articles • April 1, 2014 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

How to avoid grinding burn

Cutting Tool Engineering's Ask the Grinding Doc columnist, Dr. Jeffrey Badger, advises a shop hoping to avoid grinding burn.

Articles • February 1, 2014 • Jeffrey A. Badger, Ph.D.

Abusive grinding

A shop seeks insight from our Ask the Grinding Doc columnist, Dr. Jeffrey Badger, regarding the premature fatigue failure of pistons that seem fine when they go out the door. Could grinding be the culprit for these pistons cracking after just 5 weeks?