What is Grinding Wheel Dressing? | CRATEX Abrasives

Grinding wheels are tools used most often for grinding (abrasive cutting) operations. In our article dedicated to grinding wheels we already explained that grinding wheels are designed as self-sharpening tools, which means that the grinding process itself sharpens the wheel every time it’s used. Small abrasive cutting grains of the wheel become dull during the grinding process and break away from the bonding material, leaving the sharp grains exposed. However, this awesome self-sharpening ability is not quite enough, since the work material can cause it to load up, so it is necessary to occasionally dress or true the wheel to achieve satisfying results. If the wheels are not maintained, increased cutting forces and the created heat can cause damage to the surface finish and wheel breakage. Dressing is not so much important for rough grinding wheels, but you’ll need to always have a true, flat face on your wheel in case you’re doing some precision grinding.

Here’s where the grinding wheel dresser steps in. It is a handy tool used to remove the top layer of a grinding wheel in the purpose of:

• Truing it and making it concentric, which will minimize vibrations and improve the quality of the finishing operations. Loaded or clogged areas on the wheel will cause it to lose its roundness, and the loss of the roundness will eventually cause excessive vibrations of the bench grinder. The reason why the wheel loses its shape is because the clogged areas wear off at a different rate from the less loaded areas;
• Exposing fresh abrasive grains, which will enhance the cutting action. Dull grains of the wheels with extremely hard bond will usually remain in the wheel;
• Cleaning the pores between the abrasive grains, which get filled with workpiece fragments. This happens in case the workpiece has a softer grade than the one the wheel is designed for. In that case, the grains won’t break away in time and the workpiece parts will get stuck between them.

With dressing, the wheel will be good as new and ready for renewed grinding action!