Latest tooling lines from Mapal

Mapal will give a UK exhibition premiere to a complete range of new products (hall 17, stand 420).

For instance, the arrival of the CPR500/510 replaceable-head reamer will be a centrepiece of the hole-making series with its optimised cooling channels. These CVD-coated reamers are designed to extend tool life as the solid-carbide replaceable heads introduce a new coating technology that has been especially developed for machining castings.
Available in diameters from 8 to 40 mm, a major development of the CPR500/510 is its cooling sleeve. The issue of cooling is critical when machining castings due to the abrasiveness of the material, which is now resolved through the internal coolant supply and outlets that direct fluid at the cutting edges. Also on show will be a complete programme of ISO indexable inserts for boring steel, stainless steel and heat-resistant cast steel.
For further information www.mapal.com

Master Abrasives installs first Micromatic

Master Abrasives has sold and installed its first Micromatic grinding machine in the UK, the ECO-200 universal model, at Coventry-based Earlsdon Technology, a builder of special-purpose machine tools for industries such as aerospace and automotive.

Brian Little, toolroom supervisor at Earlsdon, recognised the importance of choosing a cost-effective machine, with the necessary precision and versatility to meet the company’s wide-ranging requirements. “The machine was purchased on the basis that it will, in the long term, provide cost savings in producing customised tooling for the bespoke requirements of our customers and reduce the risk of causing delays in machine manufacture and approval.
“Currently we send this work out to subcontract and cannot rely on a speedy reaction time or the geometrical accuracy required,” he continues. “The ECO-200 will provide an in-house service which can be easily controlled to suit the demands and timeframe of our own machine production, meeting the accuracies required.”
Earlsdon’s new machine has a 400 mm grinding capacity between centres and an additional internal grinding spindle. The nitride-hardened steel spindle on the wheel head runs in multi-point hydrodynamic bearings, which Master Abrasives says gives high rigidity and excellent damping.
Martin Stevens, applications engineer at Master Abrasives, adds: “We encourage those who are interested to get in touch and arrange a visit to our grinding and finishing showroom. We can show Micromatic grinding machines in action, as well as other products, such as our demonstration tape finisher, measuring equipment and abrasives.”
For further information www.master-abrasives.co.uk

Largest profile surface grinder from GER

International Manufacturing Solutions Ltd (IMSL), the UK agent for GER, has announced the launch of the GER SR 400-100 CNC plane and profile surface grinder. Although the 4 m grinder is currently the largest profile surface grinder manufactured by GER, if required, the company is able to produce machines with capacities of up to 6 m.

The 4000 x 1000 mm capacity machine was initially developed for an Austrian manufacturer of press tools, and is equipped with a 500 mm diameter x 100 mm wide wheel head incorporating a 30 kW spindle motor and three independent rotary diamond dressers. All slideways incorporate precision ball screws, Fanuc drive motors and Heidenhain linear scales. Control is via Fanuc 0i-TD.
GER’s SR 400-100 has a vertical distance (table to wheel spindle centre) of 1000 mm and a maximum component weight capacity of 4300 kg. Perlite cast iron is used for all of the machine’s major castings, which are ribbed and feature box-section construction.
The machine’s X-axis table guideways are mounted directly to the front section of the bed, enabling the table to accept much heavier loads while still achieving smooth movement at high speeds, says GER; a design principle that also applies to the machine’s Z-axis column guideways.
A motor assembly mounted inside a heavy cast casing within the column structure is a feature of the machine’s wheel head. This heavy-duty assembly balances the generated masses and, as it is mounted at the rear of the guideways, limits wheel head overhang to avoid deflections under demanding grinding conditions.
For further information www.imsl.eu

Exactaform continues growth with Vollmer machines

Located near Coventry, Exactaform’s new £5.8m facility is home to 12 Vollmer machines that include six Vollmer QWD750H, three QXD200, a QXD250, a QWD760, and now, the next-generation Vgrind 160. In 2012, Exactaform reported annual growth in the region of 25%, as its then seven Vollmer machines were running up to 158 hours out of a possible 168 a week. This level of automation and company growth has continued over the past five years, with staff levels rising from 13 to 63 and turnover almost quadrupling from £2m to £7m.

Exactaform recently developed its latest line of cutting tools, the Aero-Carb diamond-coated two- and four-flute end mills for composite machining, and the Aero-Ti line of end mills for titanium and aerospace alloys. Aiming to ramp up production volumes, the company wanted to improve its production efficiency. The answer arrived in the form of the Vgrind 160.
Company director Jamie White says: “We wanted the Vgrind for grinding pockets on small diameter tools. The combination of the 16,000 rpm high-frequency spindle and the facility for loading small grinding wheels instantly gave us the ability to pocket-grind tools in the 6 mm diameter range. This isn’t feasible with typical grinding wheels in the 70 mm diameter range and slower spindle speeds. The benefit was instant. We went from eroding tool pockets in 45 minutes to grinding them on the Vgrind in just two minutes. This was an astounding leap forward for our productivity levels, especially in the face of higher production quantities.”
For further information www.vollmer-group.com

Automated loading options extended

Two new automatic loading developments for the large-capacity Helitronic Vision 400L grinder and two-in-one Vision Diamond 400L grinding/eroding machine have been announced by Walter Ewag: the Top-Loader and Robot Loader 25.

Top-Loader features a pneumatic swivel arm with gripper to integrate with Walter’s standard robot pallet system for tools up to 32 mm diameter. The two-pallet system, one each for blanks and finished tools, can each accommodate up to 500 tools (depending on size).
The Robot Loader 25, meanwhile, can accommodate 21 tools of up to 315 mm diameter and 25 kg in weight (or 28 tools of up to 220 mm diameter; 70 tools up to 105 mm diameter). Equipped with a Fanuc robot and featuring new software that accommodates the ‘random’ loading and storage of tools and blanks in HSK holders on up to seven pallets, the efficiency and effectiveness of the Robot Loader 25 is enhanced by laser marking for tool set-up and optional ‘diameter determination’ functionality for automatic operation.
Both the Walter Helitronic Vision 400L tool grinder and Helitronic Vision Diamond 400L can accommodate tools up to 315 mm diameter and 420 mm long. The latter can process (grind/erode) rotationally symmetrical precision tools in PCD, carbide, HSS, ceramic, cermet and CBN in a single set-up.
For further information www.walter-machines.com