Importance

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Abstract

An automatic external cylindrical grinding center (10), having a pair of driven grinding wheels (86, 88) capable of straight and angular wheel feed for grinding a workpiece in on-center or chucking configurations. The grinding center (10) has a base (16) with a swivel table (20) pivotally mounted thereon. A longitudinally positionable work head (24) and footstock (26) are mounted on the base (16). A carriage (56) is slidably mounted on ways (52, 54) which extend longitudinally on the base (16). A pair of rearward extending ways (72, 74) are provided on top of the carriage (56) to support a wheel slide assembly (76) for back and forth movement. A rotatable wheel head (84) is mounted from the wheel slide (76) and supports two driven grinding wheels (86, 88) mounted thereon. The rotatable wheel head (84) is positionable at various positions to bring either grinding wheel (86, 88) into position for contacting the workpiece. The carriage (56) and wheel slide assembly (76) are movable along their respective axes in response to a programmable controller. The orthogonal feed axes can be selectively programmed to operate independently or simultaneously at independent or related feed rates permitting use of the machine as a straight plunge or an angular feed grinding machine. A carriage traverse guide (66) extending parallel to the longitudinal ways (52, 54) is located to minimize effects of machine base thermal distortions. Two fixed dressing diamonds (36, 38) are mounted to the footstock (26) for dressing the grinding wheels (86, 88). Dressing is accomplished by moving the carriage (56) and wheel slide asembly (76) along a selected path at programmed rates and distances to produce the desired wheel contours.

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First Claim