Surface grinding thin stock?

I want to have a pair of stepped feeler gauges made.

1. Thin: 0.18 mm Thick: 0.24 mm

1. Thin: 0.13 mm Thick: 0.19 mm.

Is it possible to fixture material this thin for surface grinding?

Sure... a mag chuck, and take really light passes with flood coolant.

LLoyd

There's far more to it than that. Grinding isn't just turning on the machine and taking passes, not if you desire proper results. You'll fight flatness and parallelism endlessly, and your end product won't be any flatter than it started unless you do something to remove any bowing that you start with. You do that by carefully straightening the part before starting the grinding process, and shimming appropriately. You may not even achieve a totally full grind on the first couples passes on each side, but that's OK---you just keep taking off minute amounts from each side until it is being fully ground.

If you want them to be straight and parallel, you'll have to take successive passes, side to side, removing little from each side with each pass. Internal stress will be released uniformly by that method, permitting the parts to remain reasonably flat. This kind of grinding requires patience and considerable skill, depending on the size of the pieces. The larger they are, the more demanding they become. Use good grinding practice for this operation. Don't plunge grind, grind from one edge to the other. Be certain your wheel is well dressed and is aluminum oxide, assuming you're grinding steel.

As Lloyd said, be certain to flood the items with coolant. Heat is your enemy.

Harold

Why not just add a .006 layer to the .018 and .013 stock?