Short stroke honing / Superfinishing

The most common application of the short stroke honing process (which is also called superfinishing) is the finishing of ball and roller races for roller bearing rings. A vitrified bonded aluminium oxide stone is often used for pre-grinding and a similar silicon carbide stone is often used for finishing.

When pre-finishing, the 12 µm grinding allowance (depending on the diameter of the ring) should be machined in order to significantly improve the undulations of the race (and thus the smooth running properties of the bearing). As a surface finish of less than 0.05 µm Ra is to be produced when finishing, the total chipping quantity is usually around 2-3 µm.

The larger the diameter, the coarser the grain

The appropriate grain size primarily depends on the diameter of the ring. The larger the diameter, the coarser the grain that should be selected for the finishing stones.

Apart from the finishing of roller bearing rings, there are a variety of other stone finishing operations in which the outer diameters of various shafts, rollers, etc. are finished by means of a short-stroke oscillating attachment.