Customers play a crucial role in determining the outcome of their precision surface grinding or lapping projects. Understanding the part characteristics and project factors within your control can help you get the best surface finishing results. Here are the key elements that you can influence:
Workpiece Material
The properties of your chosen material significantly impact the grinding process. Overall, harder materials result in better surface finishes and allow for tighter tolerances.
Grinding harder materials tends to generate more heat, but experienced shops like Alternative Surface Grinding know how to manage these issues to avoid any thermal damage. Materials with poor thermal conductivity may result in increased surface roughness.
Starting Part Thickness
Parts with significant thickness variations require more material removal to achieve a uniform surface, leading to longer grinding times. Achieving tight tolerances becomes more difficult with varying thicknesses, as the surface grinding process must account for these differences while maintaining precision. Multiple grinding passes may be necessary, with progressively finer abrasives and smaller depth of cuts.
Surface Finish Requirements
Your desired surface finish dictates many process parameters, like the methods used and measurement procedures.
When tighter tolerances are specified for a part, the surface grinding process is generally more time consuming, and could require the close-tolerance measurement accuracy of light band technology.
By considering these factors when submitting your surface grinding or hyprolapping project, our team can deliver results that meet your specific needs and expectations. re.