A personal message from Dr. Jeffrey Badger, The Grinding Doc

 

During the past twenty years, I have spent thousands of hours on the shop floor of hundreds of grinding facilities in over 30 countries. I have worked with companies battling grinding burn and chatter, reducing cycle times and wheel consumption, cutting grinding costs and generally improving grinding operations.

 

During my company visits, I have seen time and time again that there is a dire need for useful, practical information on the science of grinding. There are thousands of sharp, industrious, clever people working in grinding facilities around the world who have never received any education on the subject. They are grinding by trial-&-error, with an approach of “Let’s try this and see what happens.” The result is long cycle times, grinding burn, excessive wheel consumption and general frustration.

 

Why is this? Because, until recently, there has been no good, practical information on precision grinding. Granted, we have learned a great deal since grinding first started being investigated from a scientific standpoint in the 1950s. But much of this work is tied up in the esoteric language of academic articles, which describe basic grinding concepts using calculus and differential equations.

 

There is a desperate need for practical information on grinding based on science. I have worked hard to fill this need.

 

I have devoted my entire professional life to precision grinding. I did a Ph.D. in grinding. I have spent thousands of hours camped out on the shop floor of grinding facilities around the world – measuring, analyzing, processing, evaluating – and then thousands of hours compiling my findings into a down-to-earth, practical format that can be understood by engineers and machine operators. I have spent thousands of hours reading academic articles on grinding and then thousands more “translating” these articles into plain English.

 

I now use this knowledge and this material to help companies improve their grinding operations, namely through my three-day High Intensity Grinding Course, my one-week Grinding Boot Camp, The Grinder’s Toolbox and my 4000-page Book of Grinding.

 

The results have been amazing. I have seen grinding-machine operators arrive at my grinding course with great skepticism. Then, a few hours later I see the “Aha! look” in their eyes. They’ve been working in grinding for years – and finally things are starting to make sense. Grinding is logical and scientific.

 

A year or two later I hear back from these attendees. They report that they are now using a scientific approach to solving burn problems and chatter problems. They measure things – and then use those measurements to optimize their grinding cycle, to reduce wheel consumption (sometimes massively), to get rid of workpiece waviness. Some have reported savings in the hundreds of thousands, others in the tens of thousands. Others just say, “I don’t know how much we’ve saved. But it’s a lot. And we are no longer trying things in the desperate hope it might work.” One large company in the automotive industry sent two people to my three-day course – and reported back a six-million dollars savings in the following year. Others tell me they’re using The Book of Grinding and The Grinder’s Toolbox every day. Some purchase a Grindometer® and use it to evaluate new wheels and coolants. Now that the have the resources to learn about grinding from a scientific standpoint, they take control of their grinding operations and make huge progress. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.

 

Give the right people the right knowledge and the right tools and stand back. You’ll be amazed at what they come up with. Let me help your company take control of their grinding operations. It’s be an investment that will pay for itself almost immediately – and many, many times over.

 

Dr. Jeffrey Badger

The Grinding Doc