Quick Guide: Shutdown Procedures for Grinding Machines

Are you planning a complete or partial production shutdown for the upcoming holidays? In this Motion Blog, learn what you need to consider when shutting down UNITED GRINDING machines.

1. Remove all coolant and clear lines of residual coolant (especially for water-soluble coolants).
2. Spin the grinding wheel out to dry for at least 20 minutes, then remove it (standard abrasive grinding wheels, specifically)
3. Clean all coolant tanks and conveyors and spray them with rust preventative (water-soluble coolants)
4. Clean all bare metal surfaces and spray them with rust preventative
5. Clean entire enclosure and wipe down all way covers and windows to remove swarf
6. Clean and spray all spindle faces and wheel flanges with rust preventative
7. Clean and spray all work-head and tailstock tapers with rust preventative as needed
8. Move all axes to absolute home positions, including robots as required
9. Replace all servo drive, CNC and robot batters /under power (meaning with power on. Especially important if you can’t recall when this was last done.)
10. Perform a complete backup of your machine data, CNC data and part programs
11. Shut down machine per standard protocol
12. Lockout the machine

1. Remove all coolant and clear lines of residual coolant (water-soluble coolants)
2. Spin the grinding wheel out to dry for at least 20 minutes, then remove it (standard abrasive grinding wheels, specifically)
3. Clean all coolant tanks and conveyors and spray them with rust preventative (water-soluble coolants)
4. Clean all bare metal surfaces and spray them with rust preventative
5. Clean entire enclosure and wipe down all way covers and windows to remove swarf
6. Clean and spray all spindle faces and wheel flanges with rust preventative
7. Clean and spray all work-head and tailstock tapers with rust preventative as needed
8. Move all axes to absolute home positions, including robots as required
9. Replace all servo drive, CNC and robot batters /under power (meaning with power on. Especially important if you can’t recall when this was last done.)
10. Leave machine power on and control “up”
11. Operate the axes and spindle on a one hour warmup cycle daily. This helps to keep proper lubrication on moving surfaces.

In all cases, if grinding will not be taking place and you are not emptying the coolant system completely, keep a circulation or aeration pump running at all times to ensure the coolant doesn’t go bad (specifically for water-soluble coolants).

Contact us! We're happy to assist you.