Tru-Edge increases productivity

CNC machines rely on certain fundamentals to achieve peak performance for maximum productivity. This not only includes the machine but, importantly, the infrastructure of the facility – specifically ancillary services such as power, air and coolant.

Tru-Edge Grinding, a specialist in precision tool manufacture and reconditioning, found out first-hand what could be achieved by setting up a facility to ensure the high performance of its machines, where the company reduced power consumption by 4% while increasing productivity by double digit gains.
David Balster, director of manufacturing at Tru-Edge, which is based in St Henry, Ohio, USA, says: “At Tru-Edge we struggled for years with electrical related problems and the failure of machine electronics. After reviewing the three-phase electrical supply to our 16 Anca machines, we upgraded the power boards and replaced the cables to a higher quality with large gauge wires.”
Director of engineering, Frank Seger adds: “Replacing power boards and rewiring our facility proved to be more than a worthy investment from a view of machine uptime and, importantly, cutting costs.”
The key benefits achieved by changing the power include: greater power efficiencies, with overall power consumption reduced by 4%; increased machine uptime; reduced spare part costs; and less service related costs.
“We no longer turn off the power to the machines at the weekends as this was creating problems when they were powered back up again due to spikes in the supply,” says Balster. “With Anca’s idle shutdown feature, we found that there was no increase in our overall power usage by leaving the machines powered on.”
For further information www.anca.com

First gear grinder of its type in UK

Precision Technologies International Ltd has recently installed a Klingelnberg Höfler Viper 500K universal gear grinding machine at its Tamworth headquarters; the first machine of its type in the UK.

Technical sales director at Precision Technologies Colin Palin says: “In order to expand our capacity, meet both current and anticipated demand, and further increase our in-house capabilities, we recently investigated the available high-end, external/internal gear and spline grinding machines. Having judged several suitable machines against our demanding wish list, we came to the conclusion that the Klingelnberg Höfler Viper 500K met and in many ways exceeded our expectations.
“For instance, thanks to the logical operating system, our staff quickly became skilled in the machine’s use,” he continues. “The Viper 500K is now producing the required high quantities of ground gears with complex geometries for use in automotive and motorsport applications, as well as other equally challenging areas.”
Klingelnberg Höfler’s Viper 500K gear grinding machine, as purchased by Precision Technologies, is designed to accommodate component diameters of up to 500 mm. Multiple-wheel technology is featured, making the machine suitable for the production of small to medium-sized batches.
The configuration of the machine allows users to change the grinding technology by quickly swapping-out the grinding wheel, the grinding wheel flank and the dressing wheel. An optional internal gear grinding arm allows re-tooling and conversion from external to internal gearing work.
According to Palin, “the help of Mark Maurice, the owner of UK Klingelnberg Höfler agent Micronz, was invaluable when specifying the machine and ensuring trouble-free installation and operator training”.
For further information www.micronz.co.uk

Vollmer grinds out great results

The recent MACH 2018 exhibition once again proved to be a huge success for Vollmer UK, with the tool and saw-blade grinding and sharpening specialist winning an order at the show as well as generating a high number of enquiries. Vollmer had three machines on its stand.

Making its debut at MACH 2018, the Loroch K850-M for processing metal-cutting saw blades got proceedings off to a flier with Birmingham-based Precise Saw & Tool Ltd placing an order at the show. Purchased to add capacity to its existing operation, the Loroch K850-M has a 50-blade capacity and robotic load/unload for extended unmanned running.
The centrepiece of the Vollmer stand was the new Vgrind 360 tool grinding machine that also made its UK exhibition premiere. Vollmer‘s next-generation Vgrind 360 is the successor to the Vgrind 160 model, now equipped with enhanced travel distances for accommodating carbide drills and milling cutters whose blanks are made from either solid-carbide or carbide-tipped steel bodies up to 200 mm diameter.
Vollmer UK technical sales engineer Kieran Rosling says: “Enquiries for the Loroch K850-M and the CHC840 saw-blade sharpening machine were particularly high. We conducted a number of demonstrations on both machines during MACH week and have a number of further trials with various manufacturers showing serious levels of interest. However, the Vgrind 360 tool grinding machine was certainly the show-stopper for us. The innovation of the Vgrind 360 was evident and the enquiry level and number of follow-on meetings we have booked is really encouraging.“
Featuring two grinding spindles, the Vgrind 360 can be loaded with different tools, while an optional tool magazine with eight grinding wheel packages allows tools on the vertical spindles to be changed automatically.
For further information www.vollmer-group.com

Sixth Walter machine at Techni-Grind

Techni-Grind (Preston), a supplier of tool regrinding services to the aerospace industry, has installed its sixth Walter CNC tool and cutter grinder to increase capacity levels – a Helitronic Vision 400L with integrated robot handling and wheel changer.

The new machine not only extends the length of tooling that can be processed – to 420 mm long – but its automated handling and wheel changing capability will also, says Techni-Grind’s manager Michael Bell, “further extend our ability to confidently run the Vision 400L unmanned and in a lights-out mode, thus further increasing our productivity levels”.
Capable of processing tools up to 315 mm diameter and 420 mm long, and weighing up to 50 kg, the Vision 400L has travels in X, Y and Z of 500, 350 and 700 mm, respectively. Rapid traverse rates are up to 50 m/min, and the machine boasts linear and radial resolutions of 0.0001 mm and 0.0001°. Grinding wheels up to 254 mm diameter can be accommodated within the eight-station wheel changer, and grinding spindle speed is up to 10,500 rpm.
The Vision 400L joins the company’s existing portfolio of Walter tool grinders and tool measuring machines, which have been progressively installed – a Classic Power, a Power, a Power Regrinder and two Helitronic Visions (one with robot loading), plus a Helicheck Basic tool measuring machine.
Now, with the new machine meaning that two of the company’s Visions are equipped with robot loader and pallet-held tools, these automation devices “are key to our often non-stop 24-hour running which, of
course, contributes greatly to
the production efficiencies we attain”, says managing director David Higham.
For further information www.walter-machines.com

Step change for tape finishing

The precision machining of wave-shaped components to reduce roughness and friction, as well as for structuring and increasing the contact area of functional surfaces, can now be carried out even more efficiently: Thielenhaus Superfinish has released a new self-loading tape-finishing machine for machining shafts, bearing and sealing seats. The Cube Evo is available as a freely programmable unit and is designed to meet future Industry 4.0 standards.

A program with all the parameters required for the machining process, such as workpiece speed, machining time, oscillation, grinding pressure and tape speed can be stored and loaded for every workpiece that needs to be produced. This functionality makes it possible to index precisely to all tape finisher positions via the controller, or manually using the positioning system. Furthermore, the self-explanatory user operation surface with its pull-down menus allows all settings to be carried out quickly and easily by the operator without special training, says Thielenhaus.
Automatic loading technology reduces the machine’s non-productive time and loading processes to an absolute minimum. With its quickly adjustable tape-finish units, the modular construction provides flexible, cost-neutral configuration. In the standard working area, workpieces can have dimensions of up to 200 mm diameter and 800 mm length.
As an option, the new finishing machines can be equipped with an integrated three-axis handling system, programmable via the Siemens central control system. The grippers, tailor-made for the workpiece, have been designed as double loading to achieve short changeover times and can be quickly exchanged to adapt to the respective type of component.
For further information www.thielenhaus.com