DPG was recently contacted by a major aerospace OEM looking for OD grinding of a .120 slot on an outside diameter for a part. The New England-based manufacturer was searching for a partner with the experience, in-depth capabilities, and quality certifications to meet its precision grinding needs.

The client needed OD grinding of a .120 sealing ring groove with a 16 microinch finish or better on an outside diameter of a bearing support component for a power-generating turbine engine. The part was around 20” in diameter and about 4” long, but the slot on the component was too small to accommodate standard tooling.

Customized Tooling For Precise Finish Grinding

Grinding wheels are typically purchased in standard sizes, but this job required some customization to achieve the desired outcome. Fortunately, Duval has decades of experience in meeting this type of need. We relied on precision grinding and tooling expertise to carefully dress down the grinding wheel, allowing it to fit into the tiny slot of the roughed-out groove. 

For a finished part to meet the customers’ expectations, process planning must consider the condition of the piece after manufacturing operations. In some cases, locating faces may not be dimensionally accurate enough. In this case, the locating surface of the part for the grinding operations was not flat enough to hold the required .0005” parallelism of the groove walls. 

Solving Manufacturing Errors With Precision Grinding

After consulting with the customer, we determined the best solution was to skim grind the locating surface to be better than .0005” flat, preventing distortion once the part was released from the fixture. The resulting parts exceeded the customer’s expectations, leading them to select Duval Precision Grinding as a long-term solution to their grinding needs. 

Duval Precision Grinding has a knack for overcoming challenges and delivering what customers need. Contact Duval to request a quote and put the precision grinding experts to work on your most vital components.

Share This