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From customers, inquisitive minds, and friends alike, we receive a wide variety of questions about Superfinishing. Some of the most frequently asked questions will be featured here. Increase your knowledge on this abrasive machining process, brought to you with new exciting facts every week!

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In situations where both sides of a workpiece must be ground, and those surfaces need to be exactly plane and parralel, Double Disk Grinding becomes imperative. DDG occurs near the end of the manufacturing process, as the stock removal is small and tolerances are precise.

Depending on the workpiece material, conventional as well as CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride) or diamond wheels can be used in our double-disc grinding machines.

Double side face grinding allows simultaneous machining of two parallel external surfaces. The workpieces are carried out unclamped in nests of a transport wheel between the two grinding wheels, which allows very fast cycle times to be realized.

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Plane parallelism is the property of two opposing flat part surfaces that are parallel to each other. It is necessary for components that are built into a system/assembly

Materials that can be ground include steel, sintered metal, non-ferrous metal, plastics, ceramics and glass.

Each of these machining technologies has its particular strengths. For maximum stock removal as well as output of finished workpieces, double-disk grinding is preferred. For example, within large-scale production, single cams can be ground with a cycle time of fewer than 0.5 seconds with a continuous-feed loading system.

However, for maximum precision and size accuracy, fine grinding is preferred. Hydraulic components, for example, can be finished with an accuracy of ± 0.001 mm.

Two powerful motors achieve stock removal of over 1mm at cycle times well below one second. In just one pass, the workpiece is machined to an average tolerance of +/- 0.003mm.

Superfinishing is typically one of the last operations, after rough machining, heat treating, grinding / hard turning.

Since superfinishing surfaces are typically critical bearing or seal surfaces, all of the previous operations are required to get the surface to the condition needed for the final surface finish.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of different possible stone specifications. Abrasives are typically aluminum oxide or silicon carbide, with some diamond for hard coatings.

Grit sizes vary from 220 to 1500 mesh. Vitrified ceramic bonds are most common and these are available in a variety of hardnesses and treatments. The numerous options make it possible to fine tune a stone specification for a given application.

The pneumatic oscillator delivers very high frequency (1600-5100 strokes minute), short amplitude (0.35-3mm) oscillation in a robust, mass-balanced design. The linear and fast movement ensures constant stock removal from the workpiece and uniform stone resharpening on the superfinishing stone.

The pneumatic oscillators have a lower mass and smaller dimensions than the mechanically driven oscillators.

The cross-hatch, plateau finish improves the tribological characteristics of the surfaces by reducing preliminary wear, lowering the coefficient of friction, and providing pathways for lubricant to be distributed across the surface.

Hardened steels, soft steels, various coatings such as chrome or hard coatings, and nodular iron are the most common materials that can be enhaned by superfinishing, given their widespread use in numerous bearing and power transmission applications.

But any material where sliding or rotational friction is a concern can benefit from the finishes which can be achieved with superfinishing.

Typical results are: