Patent ID: 7429208

Claim:
A grinding system comprising: a collet assembly that selectively grips and releases feedstock to be ground; a motor assembly that transports the collet assembly; a grinding apparatus that grinds the feedstock; a support assembly having a horizontal surface for supporting the feedstock during grinding and a vertical surface with elongate grooves formed therein; and a controller operatively coupled to at least the collet assembly and the motor assembly, the controller including a microprocessor and a computer-readable storage medium storing a program of computer-readable instructions for controlling at least the collet assembly and the motor assembly, wherein, when the program of computer-readable instructions is executed by the microprocessor, the controller electronically controls grip and release operations of the collet assembly and a transport operation of the motor assembly without monitoring a trailing endpoint of the feedstock, and wherein the controller determines and controls a grinding position of the feedstock by controlling a sequence of grip and release operations of the collet assembly in coordination with a series of transport operations of the motor assembly.