Grinding and Honing

Our honing capabilities include honing of tubes, blocks, molds, or complex shapes, made of metal, plastics, ceramics, or composite materials. During the honing process, honing stones are used to abrade the part surface, removing imperfections and creating a smoother, flatter surface. In the case of cylindrical components, honing processes can be used to create a truer surface, improving the roundness of the inner diameter. The characteristic cross-hatch pattern left on the metal surface after honing is also very desirable for retaining fluid-based lubricants in mechanical applications. Due to the simplicity of the tooling and ability of the tool to improve the roundness of the part, there are many instances in which honing is a faster and more accurate option than ID grinding or hard turning processes.

However, there are still many parts for which a grinding process is needed to provide the desired surface finish and level of precision. Our grinding capabilities include centerless, contour, taper, and wet grinding, just to name a few. Centerless grinding is a very useful, and often misunderstood, grinding process. In centerless grinding, the outer diameter of a part is ground without restraining the workpiece. When set up correctly, centerless grinding can be used to not only refine the surface finish, but improve the roundness of a part at the outer diameter. While centerless grinding is a repeatable and high-precision process, it does require a knowledgeable operator to ensure the equipment and part are set up to provide the optimal outcome.

Complex grinding processes such as contour grinding and taper grinding require a great deal of experience and expertise in machining. The processes can be used to finish numerous types of low volume projects such as prototypes, fixtures, and tooling. We can provide surface finishes on the level of 0-2 RMS on complex parts, and on more than one occasion have astonished customers with the quality of workmanship we are able to provide. Our commitment to quality is evidenced not only by our ISO 9001:2015 certification, but on our strong base of repeat customers. Most prototype work can be completed in as little as two to three weeks, with production jobs typically requiring four to six weeks. Emergency orders can be expedited on request according to customers’ needs. For additional information about our precision grinding capabilities contact us directly.