Thread: Cylindrical Grinding of Hard Chrome

Does anyone know a good place to find information on grinding hard chrome. I work in an industrial hard chrome plating shop, that has taken on grinding in the last 5 years. We grind all sizes of parts, plated in both heef and conventional chrome. We us a Norton grinder with 3" x 30" pink WRA-46-j8-v8 wheels. I know this probably isnt the best wheel, but it is the middle of the road and since we grind a lot of steel parts as well these wheels work the well. I would like to try and learn some more about grinding speeds and how i can try to make my current wheel last as long as possible. Some parts that we grind have as much as .025" of chrome and it is hard to retain good wheel life throughout. Also, with heef chrome, it is harder than conventional chrome and we have struggled with fine chatter being present right off the bat. Even on a fresh dressed wheel with a new diamond we are having a hard time removing the chrome material, any suggestions?

Thanks all

If money is a issue then you may not want to hear this but you need a CBN wheel for the chrome. For that kind of expense your dealer should get a mfg rep out there to make sure you get the right one the first time. I would prefer Norton for tech support but there are others that can do it I'm sure. If you want to stay with the aluminum oxide then you need a softer wheel, H or I hardness. Remember , grinding wheels are consumables.

Have your boss get in your local Norton rep. Are you in Milwaukee area? We have ground chrome with the pink wheels for years. We have just got a new machine and will be trying some of the new abrasives for cylindrical grinding.

We run 4.5 wide and 3" wide wheels. 30" od. our wheels last about a year so extensive testing is hard to do.

I believe now we are using a 57A wheel. They tell me they have been having great luck with quantum on the od grinding wheels.