Welcome to Ofield Industrial Supply co, Inc.

Established in 1969, Ofield Industrial Supply Co, Inc., has become the premier supplier of;

• Filter Paper
• Grinding Wheels
• Coated Abrasives
• Diamond products
• Coolants

Located in the Brea, California, we are able to complete and ship most orders in 1 business day. Contact us for all your abrasive supply and grinding wheel needs!

What is a "Grinding Wheel?" 

A grinding wheel is an expendable wheel that carries an abrasive compound on its periphery. These wheels are used in grinding machines.

The wheel is generally made from a matrix of coarse particles pressed and bonded together to form a solid, circular shape, various profiles and cross sections are available depending on the intended usage for the wheel. They may also be made from a solid steel or aluminium disc with particles bonded to the surface.

Materials used are generally silicon carbide and diamond with a vitrified bonding agent. In production grinding, a wide array of materials are used. Wheels with different abrasives, structure, bond, grade, and grain sizes are available. The abrasive is the actual cutting material, such as cubic boron nitride, zirconia aluminum oxide, manufactured diamonds, ceramic aluminum oxide, aluminum oxide, and others. The abrasive is selected based on the hardness of the material being cut. The structure of the wheel refers to the density of the wheel (bond and abrasive versus airspace). A less-dense wheel will cut freely, and has a large effect on surface finish. A less dense wheel is able to take a deeper or wider cut with less coolant, as the chip clearance on the wheel is greater. The grade of the wheel determines how tightly the bond holds the abrasive. Grade affects almost all considerations of grinding, such as wheel speed, coolant flow, maximum and minimum feed rates, and grinding depth. Grain size determines the phsyical abrasive size in the wheel. A larger grain will cut freely, allowing fast cutting but poor surface finish. Ultra-fine grain sizes are for precision finish work, where a fine surface finish is required. The wheel bonding agent determines how the wheel holds the abrasives. This affects finish, coolant, and minimum/maximum wheel speed.

The manufacture of these wheels is a precise and tightly controlled process, due not only to the inherent safety risks of a spinning disc, but also the composition and uniformity required to prevent that disc from exploding due to the high stresses produced on rotation.

Grinding wheels are self sharpening to a small degree, for optimal use they may be dressed and trued by the use of grinding dressers. Dressing the wheel refers to removing the current layer of abrasive, so that a fresh and sharp surface is exposed to the work surface. Truing the wheel makes the grinding surface parallel to the grinding table or other reference plane, so the entire grinding wheel is even and produces an accurate surface.

The wheel type (eg:- cup or plain wheel below) fit freely on their supporting arbors, the necessary clamping force to transfer the rotary motion being applied to the wheels side by identically sized flanges (metal discs). The paper blotter shown in the images is intended to distribute this clamping force evenly across the wheels surface.