Studer’s WireDress suits metal bonded grinding wheels
While increasing numbers of manufacturers are enjoying the higher productivity associated with metal-bonded grinding wheels, dressing these wheels efficiently in the grinding machine has proved a challenge. However, Studer says this is no longer the case thanks to its integrated electro-discharge dressing technology, WireDress.
Electrical discharge dressing processes use the basic principle of EDM. During the discharge process, tiny areas of the grinding wheel's metal bond are melted and flushed out of the gap as small particles by the dielectric medium.
The WireDress electrode is a wire, which is drawn (maintaining a small gap) tangentially past the machining point at a constant speed of 100 mm/s. The opposite pole is the grinding wheel, which moves at peripheral speeds of 50 to 140 m/s during dressing. It does not need any dielectric, as the oil used during grinding fulfills this function.
