Electroplated Diamond & Electroplated CBN Precision Internal Grinding Pins
We hold a stock of various sizes and grades of small Electroplated (Galvanic Bonded) Internal Grinding Pins in both CBN and Diamond. We try to hold stock of the sizes and grades which we think that you are going to need but due to the very wide range of possibilities, this is not always possible. But do not despair...If we haven't got what you need then we should be able to get it quite quickly. If it is something that you are going to use on an on-going basis then we will look at holding it in stock so we have ready for when you need it.
Below are the 'standard' shapes of the Electroplated CBN & Diamond Grinding Pins. Tap on the pictures to get a closer look at them.
What is CBN and why use CBN or Diamond on Grinding Wheels?
Diamond and CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride) are considered in grinding terms to be the hardest known materials which is why they are commonly known as “Super Abrasives". This means they are ideal for grinding materials which are either very difficult or even impossible to grind with conventional abrasives such as Aluminium Oxide or Silicon Carbide. Both Diamond and CBN share the same crystal structure, with diamond consisting of pure carbon, whilst CBN is made up of the elements boron and nitrogen.
Diamond is commonly used for Dressing and Truing Conventional Aluminium Oxide Grinding Wheels because of its extreme hardness. It is also particularly suitable for grinding a wide range of ‘non-steel’ materials. For example: -
- Tungsten Carbide
- Hard Facing Material
- Graphite
- Precious and semi-precious stones
- Cermet Oxide and non-oxide ceramics
- PCD / PCB
- Sapphire, glass
- Ferrite
- Fiber reinforced synthetics
Diamond consists of pure carbon and because Steel has a high affinity to carbon, it is not suitable to use diamond to grind steel. The high temperatures produced in grinding cause the steel to extract carbon atoms from the Diamond which in turn will erode the Diamond grinding grit. This is where we turn to…
CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride)
As opposed to Diamond, CBN has no carbon atoms. It is made up of boron and nitrogen which means that it is the thing to use when you want to grind ‘hard’ steels. When we say hard, we are talking 54 HRc and above. As well as hard steel, CBN is also ideal on other materials like: -
- Stellite
- High-speed steel (HSS)
- Other Nickel-based alloys
Another big advantage that CBN has over diamond is when it comes to heat. When Diamond gets to around 700°C and above it starts to lose its hardness whereas CBN remains virtually unchanged at 1000°C and over.