Diamond wheels power up solar

Manufacturers of photovoltaic solar panels make use of Meister Abrasives grinding wheels supplied by Abwood Machine Tools.

Abwood engineering director, Rob Nicholas said: “Rather than have two pairs of spindles we have designed the new machines with the finishing wheel inside the roughing wheel. A 300 mm diameter Meister Abrasives vitrified diamond roughing cup wheel has a 275 mm diameter Meister Abrasives vitrified diamond finishing cup wheel sat inside it. Through the spindle is a splined servo driven shaft so the cup wheels have independent linear movement in and out to adjust the depth cut and compensate for any wheel wear.

“A D20 vitrified diamond finishing wheel from Meister Abrasives achieves the required surface finish. This wheel can take off up to 80 micron per pass at a feedrate of 400 to 500 mm per minute, whereas a resin wheel would be running at 150 to 200 mm per minute,” he concluded.

Using this dual wheel operation with resin wheels the company can push up to 200 mm per minute for a combined roughing and finish grinding process, however with Meister Abrasives wheels it is able to push up to 400 mm per minute. He continues: “They provide a massive increase in throughput and the wheels require less dressing, vitrified wheels are more free-cutting so there is less clogging or glazing.”