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  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Aluminum Pipe Grinding

2003

Hi,

We manufacture and use aluminum rollers on our printing machines. While grinding aluminum pipes with the prescribed grade of grinding wheels, the material still sticks to the wheel surface and the particles get into the surface of the grinding wheel making it useless after one job. What is the correct way to grind aluminum pipes? What grade of wheels is correct for this job?

Thanks,

Amit Ahuja
Printing Machinery - Faridabad, Haryana, India

First, grinding aluminum would not be my first choice I would look at diamond turned (machined) as a better option with probably as good a finish as you are getting by grinding. Next, lots of people prescribe equipment and procedures and some of them are less of an expert than I am -and I am not an expert. Aluminum is a very soft metal and will load a wheel very rapidly unless the wheel has a very rapid break down (resin binder). Feeds and speeds, type of cutting fluid and the amount of it will be critical.The grinding might work if the parts were machined to a point where you only had to grind a few tenths rather than several thousands.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003

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I question if you are using the right abrasive wheel. If you are, a cheap and easy solution might be to use a wax or grease stick against the wheel periodically. Most fast cutting abrasives wheels are designed to break down and lose their mass along with the material being worked.

AF Kenton
retired business owner - Hatboro, Pennsylvania
2003