Disclosed is a substrate polishing method comprising placing a substrate into a substrate polishing apparatus, rotating each of the substrate and a polishing pad of the substrate polishing apparatus, allowing a bottom surface of the substrate to contact a top surface of the polishing pad, and determining whether the polishing pad would benefit from maintenance. The polishing pad includes a plurality of annular regions that are homocentric with a central point of the top surface of the polishing pad. The step of determining whether the polishing pad would benefit from maintenance includes ascertaining a state of the bottom surface of the substrate, and selecting one of the plurality of annular regions by using information about the state of the bottom surface of the substrate. The one of the plurality of annular regions would benefit from maintenance.

A grinding apparatus including a robot, a grinding tool attached to the robot, a force sensor configured to detect a force exerted on the grinding tool, and a controller connected with the force sensor and configured to control the robot. The controller includes a variation acquiring section configured to acquire the present position of the robot by pressing the grinding tool against a reference surface in such a manner that a pressing force detected by the force sensor is constant, and to acquire a difference between the acquired present position and a reference position of the robot stored in advance, the difference being acquired as a variation of the grinding tool.

A method for conducting an abrasive operation can include providing a fixed abrasive article and separating a first part from a second part using the fixed abrasive article according to a deterministic process.

A machine for machining sheet metal parts has a plurality of machining stations along a continuous conveyor belt, including a first sanding belt unit with an endlessly rotating sanding belt, a brush unit with horizontally rotating abrasive brushes and a second sanding belt unit with a fine-grained sanding belt. The three machining stations can be adjusted independently, and the machining tools are interchangeable. The technical data of the machining tools is stored in a tool memory. The machine includes a device for providing a suggestion for an optimal adjustment as well as an operator terminal with a touch screen, via which the user can make inputs and/or receive information from or about the machine. Based on the data entered by the user and the data stored in the machine, the user receives a suggestion for the optimal adjustment of the machine and is prompted to change the tool if necessary.

A processing apparatus for brittle plate includes a table which holds a brittle plate, a processing head having a processing wheel for processing an outer peripheral edge of the brittle plate held by the table, a measuring portion which measures a positional shift amount Δ in an axis direction of the processing wheel with respect to the brittle plate, and a control portion which corrects a positional shift in a Z-axis direction of the processing wheel on the basis of a positional shift amount Δ in the axis direction of the processing wheel measured by the measuring portion and causes the processing wheel whose positional shift was corrected to process the outer peripheral edge of the brittle plate. The processing apparatus and its method can reduce time and labor of manually positioning of a processing wheel to the brittle plate after processing wheel replacement.

A grinding device is operated by grinding of a surface of the workpiece with at least one grinding medium while recording actual data of the surface after grinding with at least one data collection device. Actual data recorded during grinding is then compared with target data stored in an electronic memory in an electronic data processing device. Based on the comparison, adjustments are made to at least one grinding parameter if a deviation of the actual data from the target data exceeds a predetermined limit.

A polishing apparatus has a polishing pad, a top ring for holding a semiconductor wafer, and a vertical movement mechanism operable to move the top ring in a vertical direction. The polishing apparatus also has a distance measuring sensor operable to detect a position of the top ring when a lower surface of the top ring is brought into contact with the polishing pad, and a controller operable to calculate an optimal position of the top ring to polish the semiconductor wafer based on the position detected by the distance measuring sensor. The vertical movement mechanism includes a ball screw mechanism operable to move the top ring to the optimal position.

A bench grinder safety and monitoring system for maintaining worker safety while using a bench grinder having a contactor wheel, a tool rest proximate the contactor wheel defining a tool rest gap and having a tongue guard proximate the contactor wheel defining a tongue guard gap. The system includes a first optical sensor situated within in the tool rest gap having an emitter portion coupled to the tool rest adjacent a first side of the contactor wheel and a receiver portion coupled to the tool rest adjacent a second side of the contactor wheel, the emitter portion configured to project a beam of light across the tool rest gap toward the receiver portion. A controller in data communication with the receiver portion of the first optical sensor, is configured to determine if the light beam is received by the receiver portion and, if so, to de-energize the motor.

The invention relates to a method for operating a machine, in particular a grinding machine, comprising the steps of: detecting a workpiece to be machined and setting various setting values of the machine, performing machining of the workpiece, detecting a first actual value and a second actual value during or after performance of the machining, wherein the first actual value is assigned a higher prioritization than the second actual value, comparing the first actual value with a first set value range and the second actual value with a second set value range, and changing the setting values of the machine such that the actual values meet the assigned target value range according to the prioritization.

Feed rate scheduling methods include measuring a topography of a grinding wheel of a machine tool, calculating a topography parameter using the topography, and calculating a feed rate scheduling parameter for a toolpath of the grinding wheel based on the topography parameter. The topography may be measured using microscopy. The topography parameter may include a plurality of parameters including a density of crystals at a given depth (C(h)) of the grinding wheel and/or an area fraction of crystals protruding at a given depth (α(h)) of the grinding wheel. The feed rate scheduling parameter may include a grinding wheel feed rate, a grinding wheel spin rate, and/or a grinding wheel cutting depth, among other parameters.