The crankshaft grinding process is a subdivision of external cylindrical plunge grinding. In this application, both the journals and pins are ground to size. The pin bearings are generally ground with a single grinding wheel. This is used to machine the individual pin bearings in sequence.
Machining in a single pass with a set of grinding wheels
As the journals are all located on one axis, these can be machined in a single pass with a set of grinding wheels (the number of grinding wheels in the set depends on the number of journals being machined).
The development of state of the art grinding machines has seen more and more vitrified bonded CBN grinding wheels being used, especially for machining car crankshafts. Larger crankshafts, however, such as those used for truck, diesel and marine engines, are still being machined with conventional vitrified aluminium oxide grinding wheels.
Grit sizes here range from 60 to 120.