What Is Surface Grinding?
Surface grinding is a grinding technique where a high-speed rotating grinding wheel is used to create a flat surface on the work material. This process involves using a surface grinding machine and a rotary grinding stone.
Disc grinding, a related but distinct method, differs in purpose and technique from surface grinding. While disc grinding primarily focuses on smoothing surfaces and offers higher precision, surface grinding is aimed at enhancing the flatness and parallelism of the workpiece.
Uses of Surface Grinding
Surface grinding is commonly used for adjusting material thickness and improving flatness and parallelism. It’s particularly valuable in the finishing stages of manufacturing due to its ability to achieve micron-level precision and high surface finish accuracy. This method is extensively used in the fabrication of machine parts requiring strict parallelism and in semiconductor wafer processing.
Surface grinders, available in various configurations, are crucial in these applications.
Types of Surface Grinding
Surface grinders are categorized into vertical-axis or horizontal-axis types, based on the orientation of the grinding wheel’s spindle relative to the table. Additionally, they are differentiated by the shape of their tables, which can be either square or round. The combination of spindle orientation and table shape defines the specific type of grinder. The methods and features of each type are as follows:
- With a left-and-right moving table and the grinding wheel’s sides for grinding, this type excels in processing long workpieces, covering a wide area at once.
- Featuring a rotating table and using the sides of the grinding wheel, this type is efficient for mass-producing small parts.
- The most common is the method where the table moves left and right, and the outer surface of the grinding wheel performs the grinding.
- For mass production of small parts, grinders with a rotating table that uses the outer surface of the grinding wheel are preferred.