Valve Plate Double Disc Grinding for Precision Surface Finishing

Valve plates require more than simply removing material from two surfaces. For manufacturers of compressor, hydraulic, pneumatic, and other precision valve components, the grinding process must control thickness, flatness, parallelism, total thickness variation (TTV), and surface finish while maintaining a stable production cycle.

When these requirements become difficult to achieve with conventional surface grinding or sequential face grinding, double disc grinding provides a way to process both opposing faces in the same grinding operation.

MORESUPERHARD manufactures customized diamond and CBN double disc grinding wheels for valve plates and other precision flat components, with wheel specifications developed according to the workpiece material, hardness, stock removal, machine, coolant, and required final quality.

Grinding Requirements for Valve Plates

The grinding requirements of a valve plate depend heavily on its material, casting or machining condition, thickness tolerance, and final sealing or assembly requirements.

For manufacturers looking for a grinding wheel, the key question is not simply whether a wheel can grind the material. The more important question is whether the wheel can remove the required stock while maintaining the geometry and surface quality of the valve plate throughout production.

Typical requirements may include:

— Controlled final thickness

— High parallelism between both faces

— Low flatness deviation

— Low total thickness variation (TTV)

— Consistent surface roughness

— Stable stock removal

— Short and repeatable cycle time

— Low risk of grinding burn

— Consistent wheel performance over production runs

For valve plates, these requirements are closely related. Increasing stock removal, changing the material condition, or using an unsuitable wheel specification can affect grinding forces, wheel wear, surface finish, and dimensional stability.

This is why the double disc grinding wheel needs to be selected around the actual valve plate grinding process, rather than only according to wheel diameter or abrasive type.

Why Use Double Disc Grinding for Valve Plates?

A valve plate normally has two opposing faces that need to maintain a controlled relationship with each other.

With double disc grinding, the upper and lower grinding wheels process the two faces simultaneously. This makes the process particularly relevant when manufacturers need to control the relationship between the two ground surfaces while maintaining production efficiency.

For valve plate manufacturers, the potential benefits include:

Simultaneous Grinding of Both Faces

Both surfaces are processed during the same grinding cycle instead of completing the two faces in separate operations.

This can reduce the need to repeatedly reposition the component between face-grinding operations.

Better Control of Thickness and Parallelism

Because the two faces are ground within the same process, the grinding system can be configured around the required final thickness and parallelism.

For precision valve plates, this is particularly important when both faces must remain closely controlled after grinding.

Higher Production Efficiency

Double disc grinding is suitable for production environments where many similar components must be processed repeatedly.

The process can combine relatively high material removal with controlled finishing in a single grinding operation, depending on the machine configuration and wheel specification.

Consistent Surface Finish

The grinding wheel must be selected not only for material removal but also for the required final surface condition.

A properly developed wheel specification can balance cutting ability, wheel wear, dressing behavior, and surface finish.

double disc grinding valve plate

Valve Plate Grinding Case Study

MORESUPERHARD developed a double disc grinding wheel solution for CR2 steel valve plates processed on a LAPMASTER DSG720.

The workpieces had a diameter of 120 mm and a hardness of 20 HRC. The components came from a casting pre-finishing process and required 0.12–0.15 mm stock removal during grinding.

The production target was a cycle time of less than three minutes. Oil was used as the coolant.

Workpiece and Grinding Conditions