Crankshaft grinding machine - GIF

[Altair]

Crankshaft grinding machine.




Previously:

Crankshaft journal polisher - GIF
Crankshaft grinding - video
CNC machining a crankshaft - GIF
CNC machining crankshaft journals - GIF
Casting crankshafts - GIF

[nova_robotics]

That's interesting. It's a mechanical follower and not CNC.

[piper184]

A long time ago I watched a small automotive machine shop setup and grind a crank. It did not have the follower. The operator had to dial in each set of journals. Once everything was running true, the grinding wheel was moved from journal to journal. I think he did the mains first, then the offsets for the pistons. It would take a day or more to get a crank turned back then.

[nova_robotics]

A long time ago I watched a small automotive machine shop setup and grind a crank. It did not have the follower. The operator had to dial in each set of journals. Once everything was running true, the grinding wheel was moved from journal to journal. I think he did the mains first, then the offsets for the pistons. It would take a day or more to get a crank turned back then.

Yeah I've been thinking about this after I wrote it. There's no way a mechanical follower would work. You'd end up with an egg shaped crank because of the backlash on each direction change. The video above is what you described.

[hemmjo]

A long time ago I watched a small automotive machine shop setup and grind a crank. It did not have the follower. The operator had to dial in each set of journals. Once everything was running true, the grinding wheel was moved from journal to journal. I think he did the mains first, then the offsets for the pistons. It would take a day or more to get a crank turned back then.

They way you saw it was the right way to do it. There are so many ways that orange machine could mess up a crankshaft. I am sure the crank would be pretty when it was finished, but any error that previously existed in the journal would still exist, plus any new errors the follower introduces.