Wear Deviation of Regulating Wheel and its Influence on the Workpiece Accuracy in Centerless Infeed Grinding.

Abstract

In centerless grinding, the axis of regulating wheel is tilted at a small angle of less than 1° with respect to the axis of the workpiece. In order to ensure in-line contact between a cylindrical workpiece and the regulating wheel, the regulating wheel is dressed with a barrel shape. As a result, the radius of the barrel-shaped regulating wheel varies along its axial direction, which leads to the variation of relative peripheral speed between the regulating wheel and the workpiece along the workpiece length. This relative speed variation results in uneven wear on the regulating wheel along its axis direction, which in turn results in dimensional errors on the workpiece. In this paper, the mechanism of wear deviation on the regulating wheel is discussed and its effect on the workpiece accuracy investigated. It is found that wear deviation results in the workpiece to be produced in a conical shape and to vibrate to increase its roundness error. A technique for reducing the wear deviation is then propused by setting the workpiece at an appropriate position in its axial direction at which the radius of the regulating wheel is smallest.