Tools Used

The Various Tools Used by West Midland Grinding

Established in 1987, West Midland Grinding specialise in the centreless grinding of components and materials. Providing a top quality service at unbeatable prices has enabled us to gain a great reputation in the grinding industry, whilst growing our business year after year, no matter what the rest of the economy was doing.

We have provided a superlative, high precision grinding service for almost three decades now and all our dedicated staff are highly skilled, time-served engineers, all of whom have helped the business develop over time.

In terms of machines and techniques, the grinding services we provide use a combination of the traditional and the modern. We use various Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, as well as the latest technology inspection facilities.

Read more about our Machine tools here.

What grinding tools do we use?

Wheel dressings and dressing tools are used to make sure that grinding wheels are always conditioned, true and dressed. Dressing refers to the process of re-sharpening the very small cutting edges that cover the surface of the grinding wheel. We use diamond tools and wheel dressers to fracture the abrasive grains on the grinding wheel and produce sharper new edges in the process. This simultaneously cleans the spaces between the grains, eliminating metal dust and other particles that can act to clog the face of the grinding wheel.

Wheel dressers and the various kinds of dressing tool are generally mounted on the grinding wheel at a “drag angle” in order for the cutting point to be turned frequently, thus maintaining the sharpness of the points and preventing glazing or crushing of the grinding wheel face, extending the cutting tool’s life in the process.

Some wheel dressers and wheel dressing tools are actually hand-held devices whereas some are table- or machine-mounted. The choice of which type of wheel dresser to use depends on various factors, including the outer diameter of the wheel that needs to be dressed.

Read more about our Grinding tools here.

There are many different types of dressing tools and wheel dressers, including the following:

  • Rotary tools and dressing rolls – these are rugged wheels or rolls coated with diamonds, used in creep-feed applications
  • Dressing spindles – these are spindle-mounted rolls or tools that sometimes include an integral brake or drive
  • Dressing sticks – these are block-shaped or rectangular devices containing bonded abrasives
  • Cluster or multi-point dressing tools – these have several diamonds or other highly abrasive points along a dresser surface
  • Single point dressing tools – these have one diamond or highly abrasive point
  • Truing devices that reduce vibration and result in a wheel that has a uniform cutting rate – these are used to make sure the concentricity and the shape of grinding wheels is correct

For more information on grinding tools and for all of your grinding requirements, give us a call (0121 327 7737) at West Midland Grinding today.