Swissturn USA has had in-house centerless grinding capability for more than 40 years. In 2023, we enhanced our capabilities and capacity by purchasing Malden Centerless Grinding Company. Integrating Malden’s equipment and personnel into our Oxford facility brought our centerless grinding capabilities to a level not usually found in a CNC Swiss screw machine contract manufacturer.
Centerless grinding is a machining process that removes material from the outside diameter of cylindrical parts without the need for a center or spindle. It is a highly efficient and precise method of obtaining extremely high precision diameters and very fine finishes. In this process, workpieces are held between two wheels and rotated to achieve the desired shape and finish. Centerless grinding offers several advantages, including high productivity, accuracy, and the ability to process a wide range of materials and part geometries.
The fundamental components of a centerless grinding system include the abrasive grinding wheel, the regulating wheel, a work rest, and the workpiece. The grinding wheel is typically made of abrasive materials like aluminum oxide or silicon carbide. It is responsible for removing material from the workpiece by abrasion. The wheel rotates at high speeds to create the cutting action needed for grinding. The choice of grinding wheel material and its properties depend on the specific material being ground and the desired finish.
Centerless grinding is often used to prepare bar stock for use in a Swiss screw machine. Bar stock up to 1” in diameter with as much as .005” variation in its mill form can be centerless ground to .0003” total diameter tolerance. Grinding of bar stock utilizes a thru-feed process, meaning that the bar stock is introduced into the grinder and is continuously fed between the grinding wheel and a regulating wheel to reduce the diameter to a very close tolerance and to improve the finish. The use of centerless ground bar stock is a critical step in machining Swiss screw machine parts.
Centerless grinding is also frequently used post-machining or post-heat treating to grind finish diameters on precision machined parts up to 2” in diameter to extremely close tolerances and finishes.
Let Swissturn’s Team grind the raw material needed by you to manufacture component parts for your Customers!
