Abstract: A method for shortening one or more rotor blade(s) (2) of a turbomachine (3) by removal of material at the blade tip, and apparatus (1; 19) for carrying out the method: a belt grinding apparatus (1; 19) shortens the rotor blades (2) and a contour of the blade tip is generated by a relative movement of the blade tip along the static belt grinding apparatus.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device (2) for grinding and/or finishing a workpiece (8) mounted on and/or in a workpiece mounting (22, 28). The workpiece (8) and the workpiece mounting (22, 28) may be set in an oscillating movement (86) by means of a drive device (60, 108) and form an oscillating unit (96) or part of an oscillating unit (96), at least one balancer unit (94) being provided which is driven to run counter to the oscillating movement (86) of the oscillating unit (96).

Abstract: A sharpening holder for manually-sharpening a cutting edge to be honed over a honing surface includes a cylindrical body having a first end, a second end and an opening formed through the body between the first end and the second end, the opening having a tool support surface, an adjustable clamping component having a rotatable fastening plate positioned within the opening wherein the fastening plate has a tool engaging surface to hold the tool against the tool support surface and a top surface with skew angle indicia, and a plurality of roller members disposed within a longitudinal raceway formed in a lower portion of the body below the opening wherein the plurality of roller members are aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cutting edge to be sharpened and wherein the axis of rotation of the plurality of roller members is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cutting edge to be sharpened.

Abstract: A sharpening holder for manually-sharpening a cutting edge to be honed over a honing surface includes a body, an adjustable clamping component, and a plurality of roller members. The body has a first end, a second end and a tool support surface between the first end and the second end. The adjustable clamping component has a fastening plate positioned against the tool support surface. The fastening plate has a tool engaging surface to hold the tool against the tool support surface. The plurality of roller members are attached to a lower portion of the body adjacent the second end where the plurality of roller members are configured to allow the body to roll in a direction selected from the group consisting of sideways and in an arc on the honing surface causing the cutting edge of the tool to move parallel to the honing surface instead of perpendicular to the honing surface.

Abstract: In the tape head polishing method of the present invention the tape head is moved orthogonally to the polishing medium (such as diamond polishing tape) direction of motion during polishing. The polishing medium motion is synchronized with the tape head motion, such that the polishing medium is held stationary when the tape head motion is stationary, and the polishing medium is moved when the tape head motion is approximately at a maximum velocity. The tape head velocity VH and the polishing medium velocity VT during the tape motion are generally related by the equation VT?VH Tan ?, where Tan ?=W/L, where W is the width of an insulation layer fabricated between a magnetic shield and a tape head read sensor element, and L is the length of a read sensor element.

Abstract: An apparatus for polishing a substrate with an optical surface. The apparatus contains a polishing pad and and a device for oscillating the polishing pad while simultaneously contacting it with at least 90 percent of said optical surface.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for edge blending hard drive head sliders by oscillating abrasive lapping tape across the edges of multiple sliders simultaneously.

Abstract: A wafer carrier for retaining at least one semiconductor wafer in a processing apparatus during a processing operation which removes wafer material by at least one of abrading and chemical reaction. The processing apparatus is adapted for removing wafer material from a front side and a back side of each wafer simultaneously. The carrier includes a plate including wafer contaminating material and having an opening and a thickness. An insert has a thickness and is disposed in the opening for receiving at least one wafer and engaging a peripheral edge of the wafer to hold the wafer as the carrier rotates. The thickness of the insert is significantly greater than the thickness of the plate to inhibit removal of material from the plate and thereby inhibit bulk metal contamination of the wafer.

Abstract: A polishing apparatus has a top ring for holding a workpiece to be polished and a polishing table movable relative to the top ring. The polishing table has a polishing surface for polishing the workpiece held by the top ring. The polishing apparatus further has a polishing liquid supply device for supplying a polishing liquid to the polishing surface. At least one of the top ring and the polishing table reciprocates linearly in a first direction. The workpiece can be polished uniformly by the polishing surface because at least one of the top ring and the polishing table reciprocates linearly in the first direction.

Abstract: In the tape head polishing method of the present invention the tape head is moved orthogonally to the polishing medium (such as diamond polishing tape) direction of motion during polishing. The polishing medium motion is synchronized with the tape head motion, such that the polishing medium is held stationary when the tape head motion is stationary, and the polishing medium is moved when the tape head motion is approximately at a maximum velocity. The tape head velocity VH and the polishing medium velocity VT during the tape motion are generally related by the equation VT≦VH Tan &phgr;, where Tan &phgr;=W/L, where W is the width of an insulation layer fabricated between a magnetic shield and a tape head read sensor element, and L is the length of a read sensor element.

Abstract: There is disclosed a barrel-polishing apparatus comprising a polishing medium bath with polishing mediums received therein, a base, an arm mounted on the base, and a workpiece attachment device mounted on a distal end portion of the arm and adapted to attach a workpiece to the arm, wherein the polishing mediums are caused to flow within the polishing medium bath by an appropriate device and a pressing plate for pressing the polishing mediums is mounted on the polishing medium bath. A barrel-polishing method is also disclosed.

Abstract: The present invention is based on the practice of abrasive machining with no sealed working chamber by the employment of a visco-elastic abrasive medium, behaving predominantly as an elastic solid at the applied strain of the orbital working motion, and applying orbital or other relative working motion to produce strain rates which bring the medium into a predominantly elastic deformation and often near, but not to exceed, the compressive stress limit at the strain rate employed. The preferred visco-elastic abrasive medium is a rheopectic poly(boro-siloxane) filled with viscosity increasing stiffening agents and high loadings of the abrasive of choice and relatively mono amounts of plasticizers.

Abstract: To provide an apparatus that may impart a complicated bend deformation to an object to be machined such as a ceramic bar elongated in one direction or the like, and may reduce the non-uniformity in machining amount of the object to be machined upon the machining work of the object to be machined, specifically a correcting mechanism for deforming the object to be machined together with a jig holding the object to be machined is provided in a machining apparatus. The correcting mechanism includes a base, a plurality of levers provided at first ends with pins, a shaft fixed to the base for rotatably supporting the levers, and a plurality of correcting drive means coupled to second ends of said levers for pivoting the levers to the shaft to thereby pivoting the pins.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for chemically mechanically polishing semiconductor substrates with enhanced durability, reliability and polishing effectiveness. In the method of the present invention, the substrate and the pad respectively orbits to guarantee uniform polishing across the substrate in principle. The apparatus of the present invention employing the above method is mechanically stable to enhance process reliability.

Abstract: A blade sharpening apparatus having a hollow housing with an internal drive motor for inducing back and forth movement on a pair of aligned elongated abrasive stones. The abrasive stones are retained by a stone holder and possess a cross section in the form of a equilateral triangle. A slidable guide is slidably mounted on the housing above the pair of abrasive stones. The abrasive stones have a portion of two faces extend through the slidable guide. The slidable guide includes a pair of flat guide surfaces for supporting a blade to be sharpened.

Abstract: Disclosed is a polishing system used for polishing a surface to be polished of an object to be polished by a polishing pad, which is capable of improving uniformity of the surface to be polished of the object to be polished by positively, accurately adjusting a polishing pressure, and a polishing method using the polishing system. Concretely, the surface to be polished of a wafer as the object to be polished is polished by relatively moving, along a plane, a polishing surface of the rotating polishing pad and the surface to be polished of the wafer in slide-contact with each other, and adjusting a pressing force applied from the polishing pad to the wafer in accordance with a polishing pressure previously set depending on a relative-positional relationship between the polishing surface of the polishing pad and the surface to be polished of the wafer.

Abstract: A fining and polishing machine and method enable a work piece, suitably a spectacle lens, to be polished with a relative motion between the lens and a tool that is precisely matched to the specific lens prescription. The lens and tool are reciprocated along first and second non-co-linear axes, respectively, and the lens is polished as each reciprocates. The relative motion between lens and tool is equal to the vector sum of their individual motions. By precisely controlling the reciprocation of lens and tool, a wide range of desired motions can be obtained, enabling a lens to be polished to a particular prescription by altering the frequency and/or amplitude of the reciprocating motions along the two axes. A controller drives a pair of actuators which reciprocate the lens and tool in accordance with resident motion equations, as realized with prescription-specific amplitude and frequency parameters received as inputs.

Abstract: An apparatus for polishing wafers, preferably by chemical mechanical polishing. The apparatus includes a table defining a planar polishing surface adapted to contain a polishing medium and a wafer carrier assembly adapted to hold a wafer against the polishing surface. The wafer carrier assembly includes a wafer carrier and prevents rotation of the wafer carrier with respect to the polishing table even when the wafer carrier is moved in a circular or orbital path on the polishing surface. Polishing is carried out relative movement between the wafer carrier and the polishing surface in any direction within the plane of the polishing surface. The relative movement can be accomplished by moving the wafer carrier, the polishing table, or a combination of movements of the wafer carrier and polishing table.