Why is a steady rest sometimes used in cylindrical grinding?
To support long workpieces during rotation
In cylindrical grinding the workpiece is held between centres (or in a chuck) and rotated slowly while a fast-spinning abrasive wheel removes material. A steady rest (also called a work rest or back rest) is an auxiliary support fitted between the two centres. Its job is purely mechanical support.
Why it is needed:
- Long, slender shafts have a low bending stiffness, so they sag under their own weight and deflect away from the grinding wheel under the radial grinding force.
- This deflection produces chatter, taper, barrel-shape and out-of-roundness, ruining size and surface finish.
- The steady rest bears against the workpiece (usually with shoes or rollers) at one or more points along its length, keeping it concentric and rigid, so the wheel can grind a true cylinder.
Therefore the correct reason is to support long workpieces during rotation.
The idea that it cools the workpiece is wrong — cooling is done by cutting/grinding fluid, not by a mechanical rest. Aligning the grinding wheel to the table is a machine-setup/dressing function, unrelated to a rest. Holding abrasive material is the role of the grinding wheel or a bonded abrasive stick, not a steady rest, which never carries abrasive.
Similar Questions
During the 'Shaping' operation conducted on a workpiece of aluminum material, the type of coolant used is:
The type of surface produced by a taper turning operation performed on a lathe machine is:
Which component in a cylindrical grinding machine provides longitudinal movement to the workpiece?
For drilling a hole on a lathe, the drilling tool is placed in the ______.
Important Questions from Machining Processes and Machine Tools
Tool in the case of ultrasonic machining is made of _____.
The corrosion resistance property of stainless steel is due to the presence of
- In chemical machining, the etch factor is expressed as:
According to the Ernst and Merchant theory, the relation between the shear angle (ϕ), friction angle (β) and rake angle (α) in single point cutting tool in turning is as follows:
Top down manufacturing approaches are also known as _________ manufacturing.
