An Ounce of Centerless Grinder Preventive Maintenance is Worth a Pound of Cure

Ellen Kominars | August 24, 2020 | Best Practices, Centerless Grinders

Everyone’s familiar with Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote, but few people know it doesn’t refer to human health. Franklin coined the phrase after visiting various fire stations in Boston, his birthplace. He declared that Philadelphia, his adopted city, should implement similar fire safety precautions to protect that city’s growing population, eventually establishing the first firefighting organization in Philadelphia.

Like Franklin, you know that centerless grinder preventive maintenance, by the ounce or by the gram, is key to warding off serious machine ills. You also know that even the best, most technologically advanced centerless grinding machine requires checks on a daily, monthly and yearly basis.

It’s easy for production demands to crowd out centerless grinder maintenance, but for the health of your machine and your operation, it’s important to keep up with these preventive maintenance checks. Good preventive maintenance avoids potential injuries, costly remedial action and lost production time.

We’ve compiled all the required grinder maintenance tasks into an easy-to-follow schedule, designed to keep your centerless grinder running problem-free for many years. (You should consult your machine manual, as well.) Follow these guidelines to keep your centerless grinder and profit levels “healthy, wealthy and wise.” Keeping a maintenance log will help you track your efforts and ensure accountability.

Should you need additional assistance with centerless grinder preventive maintenance or spare parts and components, please contact GCH Tool Group.

General checks

The centerless grinding machine should be cleaned daily.
The coolant tank should be cleaned at least once a month.
Slide surfaces should be cleaned (grinding wheel dresser, regulating wheel dresser & infeed slide stack)

Per-shift checks

Check oil level in hydraulic power unit and lubrication unit.
Check way lubrication level.

Daily checks

Clean all exposed surface of motors, panel, power unit, grinding wheel head, regulating wheel head and all other parts mounted on the machine.
Run the centerless grinder and check all functions.
Check for any abnormal noise, oil leakage or heating of motors.
Lubricate all moving parts as per recommended lubricating oil chart.

Weekly checks

Check oil level of power pack and lubrication unit, regulating wheel head, etc.
Clean centerless grinding machine coolant settling in the tray/dump area.
Clean and tighten all exposed wire, cable conduit and connectors.
Check wheel head and work head belts for tension and wear.
Check coolant concentration levels.

Quarterly checks

Grease zirc fittings on the grind wheel motor and grind wheel dresser (if applies).

Six-month checks

Change oil in power unit and lubrication unit.
Replace filters in hydraulic power unit
Visually inspect ways to make sure lubricant is being properly delivered.
Tighten spindle belts.
Replace pressure line filter cartridge.
Clean power unit and lubrication oil strainer.
Tighten all connections on centerless grinder motor, contractor, LS, PB, terminals and fuses.
Check I/P and O/P volts on transformer and fuse ratings.
Check motor current and set MCB to motor full load current.
Check leveling and level the m/c with spirit level.
Check earthing and earth-to-neutral voltage.
Check deflections and end thrust of both the grinding wheel and regulating wheel spindles.
Check temperature of wheel head oil after 30 min. running.

Annual checks

Open all induction motors and check, clean and grease bearings. Replace worn-out parts.
Check complete lubrication system on centerless grinding machine and clean all lubrication pipes and points.

Also Read: The Role of Hydraulic Assemblies in Centerless Grinding

Best Practices

A centerless grinder preventive maintenance program can’t stand on its own. You need other practices in place to ensure you get the most out of your maintenance efforts.

File documentation for your machine, including a parts list, blueprints, and operation manual, where operators can have easy access to them. Finding the information you need when you need it can make all the difference in the length of down times.

Maintaining an appropriate spare parts inventory can also benefit your centerless grinder maintenance efforts. Make sure to replenish parts as they are used.

Carefully handling expensive components is another important task. All the preventive maintenance in the world won’t help if items like grinding wheels are damaged during removal or storage.

And, as always, if you have any questions or concerns, please be sure to contact us for the assistance you need.

About Ellen Kominars

Ellen joined GCH Tool in 2013 as director of marketing. She is responsible for digital marketing, media relations, website development, event planning, advertising, communications and graphic design. A long-time resident of Mexico City, Ellen speaks Spanish fluently, and often assists with the many GCH customers located in Latin America. Ellen has worked in industrial marketing for over 20 years. She’s now added grinding components and grinders to the list of products she’s marketed, which includes induction furnaces, hand tools, magnetic separators and diesel-truck axles.