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Crazy idea?

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amishmafia00

Aluminum
Joined
Sep 28, 2009
Location
central pa
has anyone used a toolpost grinder and a hydraulic tracer ( template turning with the workpiece) to do work such as grinding cams and cranks? how about using the same setup to rough in the lobes with a standard cutting tool, similar to a relieving attachment?

Am i nuts?
 
Crazy choice of topic title ;)


I did see some scale model cam grinders before that seemed to work really nice, but haven't seen such things attempted on a lathe, it would take a fair bit of modification I think.
 
I suppose that it could be done. Profile dressing for a centerless is not much different.

The old cam grinders had a master cam and follower to move the grinding head in and out. Most had a wheel head dresser to get the taper on the lobe.

Production crank grinding was done with fancy fixtures.

Most of the new stuff is all CNC. I saw a CNC grinder that was delivered to CAT that was all automatic after the crank was loaded. So why would you want a hydraulic tracer and a template that has to be made when you can have ball screws and a program?
JR
 
well i have a lathe and a hydraulic tracer. I come from a family of chronic power junkies. right now we have cams for 3 engines getting reground. i was in the shop and got to thinking about it and i don't know why it couldn't be done.
 
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I've thought about this. The problem I came to is the decent aftermarket cams for the applications I deal with are all made with larger base circles and longer durations than the stock cams- A stock ground camshaft cannot be ground to the same size lobe, if it was tried the base circle would be much smaller than the original ground cam. Not a great thing for longevity.

It would work great if you have a source for unground blanks.
 
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