BEARING OUTERS | The outer diameter of the bearing outer is typically ground on a throughfeed process using conveyor or roller load systems, and can be bowl fed where appropriate to increase productivity where appropriate.

By taking advantage of cutting edge developments in advanced control system technology, the manufacturing process can be further enhanced to include fully automated dress cycles, called by changes in surface finish from laser gauged surface roughness of ground components, and auto compensation for diameter correction based on real time recording of ground component diameter.

BEARING INNER RACES | Although bearing innar races are typically ground on external cyclindrical grinding machines, they do lend themselves well to plunge grinding on centreless machines, where higher manufacturing volumes demand high volume production or smaller production runs don't merit the addition of an external grinder into the process.

Races can either be ground individually or in small batches, depending on volumes required, and machines can be equipped with a variety of automation systems accordingly.

PLAIN SPHERICAL BEARINGS | As centreless grinding machines are used on a wide range of other items in bearing production, it can often be favourable to plunge grind plain spherical bearing inners on a centreless machine instead of on a dedicated spherical grinder.

Through form dressing the control wheel correctly, rough turned spherical components can be ground on fast plunge cycles, to tight dimensional tolerances, ensuring a good fit in the outer is achieved and component parts for bearing assembly are available in high volumes for pressing.

CERAMIC BEARINGS | Ceramic bearings draw on relatively recent material advancements to offer improved performance and longevity over some of their steel counterparts.

Grinding ceramics can be a difficult process to set up and maintain, but our experience with CBN and diamond wheels on centreless grinding a range of ceramic components, including bearings and shafts, and the common pitfalls of working with ceramics on centreless processes will help ensure you remain productive and efficient.

PARALLEL ROLLERS | Parallel rollers are perfectly suited to being ground on a standard throughfeed setup, commonly with bowl feeding equipment, which ensures high production rates and component accuracy.

For speed and efficiency, parallel rollers will typically be rough and finish ground, either by using a split grade abrasive wheel on a single machine, interchangeable wheel setups on a single machine if volumes are low, or by using a dedicated rough and finish grind machine configured in a line, with part conveyors to feed parts from one machine to the next.

TAPER ROLLERS | Taper rollers can be centreless ground using a profiled steel drum on a throughfeed grinding machine. This is a very high speed process, capable of producing several finished rollers every second. A variety of advanced control options are available to ensure roundness, surface finish and dimensional accuracy of the taper remain high.

Grinding of these components is critical to correct ovality errors which can be present after head treatmeant, as well as to ensure surface finish is of a high enough quality for smooth running once the bearing is assembled.

SPHERICAL ROLLERS | Throughfeed grinding valve guides to high dimensional tolerances is a process we are very familiar with, and lends itself well to incorporation of an advanced automatation control package into the machine to keep production volumes high and operator intervention low.

We typically advise that these components are bowl fed onto a load conveyor to maximise the throughput capacity of the machine, and can integrate laser guaging for component diameter and surface finish into the machine to further enhance performance.

NEEDLE ROLLERS | The technique used for throughfeed grinding needle rollers is much the same as that used in the manufacture of parallel rollers, whereby a centreless machine can be loaded automatically using a bowl feeder and conveyor to give high throughput rates.

Other enhancements can be offered on the control system to further increase machine automation, including fully automated dress cycles, automatic compensation of the infeed slide position for diameter correction and automated inspection (and rejection) of parts as they pass through production.