Excessive forces generated during dressing cycles have a negative impact on the the entire grinding process, as the following case study demonstrates.
Meister Abrasives recently did a comparison of two different processes for dressing a Ø400mm CBN wheel used to plunge grind a critical automotive steering component with a tightly finished and close-tolerance cylindrical wear surface.
The test compared dressing forces generated by the user’s standard metal-bonded diamond dresser and those generated by full-radius Meister cDD dresser. Meister’s revolutionary cDD (CVD-tipped Diamond Dresser) technology produces rotary dressing tools that hold their profiles better and their sharpness longer than other dressing technologies. The cDD dressing tools rely on a unique structure in which high-quality CVD diamond inserts are strategically embedded within Meister’s hDD porous hybrid-bond diamond matrix. As a result of this combination, users are no longer forced to choose a dressing tool that is optimized either for truing or sharpening; cDD dressing tools excel at both.
Over the entire dressing cycle the cDD dresser generated 30% less force on the wheel. This resulted in a much sharper and uniform wheel surface, which translated into a number of important benefits, including:
- Sharper wheel
- Longer intervals between dresses
- Closer dimensional tolerances
- Lower grinding forces
- improved cycle time
- Improved surface finish.
Of course the benefits you achieve from improving your dressing results depend on the goals you have established for your grinding process. But one thing is sure, the ones that are most critical can be improved, and often substantially.
