Every now and then, we receive a request from a university. Typically, someone is testing something and a lab needs a precise part to make their respective application work. Often times, the university that contacts us doesn’t know much about grinding, but they trust us to produce the part that they need in the timeframe they need it. It’s usually very exciting work to perform, as we realize that we could be playing a small role in a major innovation.

Solving Challenges Through Clear Communication, Grinding Expertise

This was recently the case with a major university in the southern United States. Representatives in the university’s Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering found Duval Precision Grinding on the Internet and gave us a call to see if we could help. After a lot of dialogue with the client, we went to work using OD grinding and jig grinding to precisely grind a 300-series stainless steel part with a finish requirement between 8 and 16 micro and size tolerances within ± .0005. These shafts also consisted of specs including an overall size of Ø1.0 X 12 inches with necked down diameters around Ø.500 inches, one of which was offset/eccentric by .250 inches.

Creating the part consisted of using both standard tooling and custom fixturing. Being that a few diameters were on a different centerline than the main diameter of the part, we couldn’t just run the entire part between the centers. We needed to use a jig grinder and a special fixture to qualify the off-center diameter.

Accelerated Turnaround Times Keep Research Project On Schedule

In the end, we precisely ground the parts for the university within 26 business hours, with the turnaround time from receipt to shipment consisting of just nine days. We weren’t informed what the end use of the intended part was, but based on our experience working with universities, it’s safe to say that it had the potential to become something historic. 

Research institutions come to us for the same reason our clients in aerospace, defense, and manufacturing do: because they know we can reliably grind parts to meet the precise specifications that they’re looking for. We’re always happy to take on challenging jobs, whether they’re for universities performing critical research or OEMs producing the equipment that makes our daily lives possible. Contact Duval Precision Grinding today to join the list of satisfied customers benefitting from our fast turnaround times and precision grinding expertise.

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