Got a fixture idea, need some advice (PLEASE)

Dan,

When I said "you" I should have said vinny.

With a CNC profile attachment it should take a couple of min. max to dress the wheel and maybe 20 min to complete the setup and have a first off. The cycle time should be less than 10 seconds holding his

+/- .0001 tolerance, with no 5"-7" material loss due to bar ends or a need to pre-grind the blank or bar.

True, it is quick and simple.

Unless I missed something in vinny's post there is nothing hard about it, in fact it's an easy part for an in-feed centerless profile grind on the machine I posted the photo of (at Superior).

Did it day in and day out on Centerless Profile Grinders with and without CNC dressers running OEM shafts that had up to 8 different diameters, up to 18" long shafts all in one grind holding tolerance

+/- .0001".

Our process;

Un-ground round barstock

Turn on CNC Swiss with magazine bar feeders leave grind diameters .005"-.015" O/S (depending upon condition of raw stock) (Bar ends that were long enough were saved sent to CNC Chucking Lathes and used for other short run orders)

Parts to grinding department; Put finish profile on the grinding wheel with profile dresser, Set work rest, Dress regulating wheel if necessary Hold part finish tolerance of +/- .0001"

Processing nearly 200,000+ lbs of material per week. We could sell completed shafts for little more than most shops would pay for material alone and we only had 5 days from order date to deliver to their plant.

Should not be an issue for this part. Should only have to put the profile on the grinding wheel.

If spring/TIR is an issue in-feed rates are variable if that is not enough put the profile on the regulating wheel as well.

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If Vinny has a CNC Swiss I would say by all means use it. However if the part needs to be sent out then Centerless Profile Grinding & CNC Swiss are both viable options depending upon quantity, lead time and cost.

Tom