Centerless grinding is a technique in which a work piece is not supported between centers, instead is put on a work support blade and fed automatically between a regulating or feed wheel and grinding wheel.
There are four variations of centerless grinding:
Through feed- through feed centerless grinding is employed to create simple cylindrical shapes. With this method work is feed continuously by hand into the space between the grinding wheel and the regulating wheel.
In feed- in feed centerless grinding is similar to through feed centerless grinding except that with the in feed centerless grinding technique the work is fed into the wheel space until it reaches a stop and then is ejected at the end of the grinding operation
End feed- end feed centerless grinding in grinding technique ideally suited for grinding short tapers and spherical shapes. With this technique the grinding wheels are dressed to the desired shape of the part prior to grinding. The work is then fed into the grinding space until it reaches a stop, and then is ejected automatically at the end of the grinding operation.
Internal centerless grinding- internal centerless grinding is generally used when the work piece is too large or oddly shaped to be rotated.