Blanchard Grinding Services Built on Decades of Foundry Expertise
Flat, parallel, and finished to spec. C.L. Dews & Sons Foundry provides production-ready Blanchard grinding services for castings, forgings, plate stock, and fabricated components.
Our Blanchard grinding services deliver the surface flatness and finish quality that downstream machining, assembly, and sealing operations demand. At C.L. Dews & Sons Foundry, we pair rotary surface grinding capability with over a century of metalworking knowledge to take your parts from rough stock to precision-finished components, all under one roof. Whether you need a single prototype ground flat or a production run of hundreds, our team has the capacity and the expertise to deliver.
What Is Blanchard Grinding?
Blanchard grinding, also called rotary surface grinding, uses a vertical spindle and rotating magnetic chuck to remove material quickly while producing a characteristic crosshatch surface pattern. It is one of the most efficient methods for achieving flatness on large or heavy workpieces.
Named after the Blanchard Machine Company that pioneered the process, this grinding method excels at stock removal and surface finishing simultaneously. The workpiece sits on a rotating magnetic table while a cup-shaped grinding wheel spins above it on a vertical axis. The opposing rotation of the table and wheel creates a distinctive crosshatch finish pattern that many engineers specify for gasket seating surfaces and mating faces.
Unlike reciprocating surface grinders that move a workpiece back and forth under a horizontal spindle, Blanchard grinders can process multiple parts per cycle by loading the entire table surface. This makes the process particularly cost-effective for production volumes. For a deeper technical overview of grinding processes and metallurgical considerations, the ASM International library provides extensive resources on material finishing standards.
Our Blanchard Grinding Capabilities
We maintain our Blanchard grinders to tight mechanical standards so your parts come off the table ready for the next operation, whether that is CNC machining, assembly, or direct installation.
Tolerances to ±0.001"
We hold flatness and parallelism tolerances as tight as one thousandth of an inch across the full workpiece surface, verified with precision measuring instruments.
Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Metals
Cast iron, carbon steel, stainless steel, tool steel, aluminum, and bronze. If it can be ground, we can process it on our Blanchard equipment.
Up to 42" Diameter
Our rotary table accommodates workpieces up to 42 inches in diameter and varying thicknesses, suitable for large castings, plates, and fabricated assemblies.
Fast Stock Removal
Blanchard grinding removes material significantly faster than reciprocating grinders, reducing cycle times and keeping your per-part costs down on production runs.
Applications & Industries Served
Blanchard grinding services from C.L. Dews & Sons Foundry support a wide range of industries that depend on flat, true surfaces. Our customers rely on us for both one-off jobs and recurring production schedules.
- Mold base and die plate preparation
- Casting cleanup and surface finishing
- Hydraulic manifold face grinding
- Structural steel plate flattening
- Mining and aggregate equipment wear parts
- Pump and valve body sealing surfaces
- Fixture and tooling base plates
- Press platen resurfacing
Many of these components arrive at our facility as raw castings or flame-cut shapes that need material removed and faces brought into tolerance. Because we also offer custom machining, we can combine Blanchard grinding with additional milling, drilling, or turning operations to deliver a fully finished part.
Why Choose Dews for Blanchard Grinding Services
We are not a grinding-only shop. We are a full-service foundry and machine shop that has been producing and finishing metal components since the early 1900s. That integrated capability means fewer vendors, shorter lead times, and tighter control over your finished part quality.
Foundry-to-Finish Under One Roof
When your part starts as a casting, keeping it in one facility from pour to grind eliminates shipping between vendors, reduces handling damage risk, and compresses your delivery schedule. Our team manages the full workflow so your project stays on track.
Experienced Machinists
Blanchard grinding is straightforward in concept but demands experienced operators to set up jobs correctly, choose the right wheel specifications, and dial in feed rates for each material. Our machinists bring years of hands-on grinding experience to every job.
Quality You Can Measure
Every ground surface is inspected for flatness and finish quality before it leaves our shop. We document our results so you have the data you need for your own quality records. If your job requires specific surface roughness values or geometric tolerances, we work to those specifications.
Ready to Get Your Parts Ground Flat?
Send us your drawings or specifications and our team will provide a quote for Blanchard grinding services, CNC machining, or any combination of our capabilities.
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