Abstract
This paper deals with the development of a new centerless grinding method, the regulating-wheel-less centerless grinding. In convenient centerless grinding, a regulating wheel to support the workpiece and control its rotational speed must be employed. Consequently, not only a high-precision regulating wheel unit and a high-accuracy dressing technique for the regulating wheel are required, but also it is difficult to produce a small-size grinder for machining micro parts. To solve the above problems, a new centerless grinding method without regulating wheel unit has been proposed. In this method, an ultrasonic vibrating shoe, the end of which is in elliptic motion at a high frequency, is employed instead of the regulating wheel. In this work, an experimental apparatus based on this concept has been produced, and grinding tests have been carried out. This report describes the produced apparatus and test results.
