Predictive high wheel speed grinding system

In a grinding machine, the combination comprising a resin bonded grinding wheel mounted for rotation about its axis and means for rotationally driving the wheel, said wheel having a face engageable with a workpiece for producing grinding action;

• means for mounting said grinding wheel and an elongated workpiece for relative traversing movement longitudinally along the surface of the workpiece with the axis of the grinding wheel parallel to the axis of the workpiece, the face of said grinding wheel being tapered from a minimum radius at the leading edge of the face to a maximum radius at the trailing edge of the face, the difference between said minimum radius and said maximum radius being substantially the same as the amount of metal removed from the workpiece in each pass of traversing movement;
• means for maintaining the opposed surfaces of said grinding wheel and said workpiece in controlled positions relative to each other in the radial direction;
• a truing element having an operative surface conforming to the desired shape of the wheel face in a direction parallel to the wheel axis;
• and means for relatively feeding the wheel face into relative rubbing contact with the operative surface of said truing element while heating the wheel face sufficiently to weaken the resin binder sufficiently to release the worn grit material of the wheel and expose fresh grit material.