Patent ID: 7153189

Claim:
A coolant supply method for a grinding machine wherein a grinding wheel rotatably carried on a wheel head and a workpiece supported on a workpiece support device are relatively moved to grind an end surface of the workpiece with a grinding wheel end surface of the grinding wheel with coolant being supplied toward a grinding point therebetween, the method comprising the steps of: providing first and second nozzles for respectively ejecting first and second coolant flows toward a first position which is on the grinding wheel end surface on an upstream side of the grinding point, and a second position which is on the grinding wheel end surface and which is closer to the grinding point than the first position; ejecting the first coolant flow from the first nozzle in a direction which is inclined at a predetermined angle relative to the grinding wheel end surface when viewed in a direction parallel to a plane including the rotational axes of the grinding wheel and the workpiece, to intercept a follow air layer on the grinding wheel end surface by the first coolant flow; and ejecting the second coolant flow from the second nozzle in a direction which is inclined at a smaller predetermined angle than the inclination angle of the first coolant flow relative to the grinding wheel end surface when viewed in the direction parallel to the plane, to make the second coolant flow cling onto the grinding wheel end surface at the second position where the follow air layer has been intercepted by the first coolant flow.