Adjustable Volume

The new FLX carbide tool grinder offers the flexibility to meet a variety of production requirements

Unveiled at IMTS 2024, the FLX tool grinder from Star Cutter Co. in Farmington Hills, Michigan, can grind carbide tools up to 2" in diameter and 8" in length, and is designed to fit the bill in a variety of different production environments. The five-axis machine also is capable of facilitating change when volume requirements change.

When designing FLX, Star focused on flexibility so users could modify the machine to meet very different grinding needs. An FLX setup can include multiple wheel-changing stations with wheels of up to 6" in diameter. Toolmakers “can go from a simple machine with no wheel change up to a maximum of 15 wheels,” noted Aaron Remsing, Star’s grinding division product manager. “To the best of my knowledge, we have the highest amount of wheel-change capacity on the market right now.”

FLX also offers automation capabilities for continuous production of large numbers of parts. With waterfall programming, the machine can produce up to 1,105 tools before unloading.

“We made it a scalable solution for the very high-volume guys because it has an automation bay that is truly modular,” Remsing said. Since the bay is a standalone unit, he explained, Star can configure an automation cell at its facility to meet the needs of a customer already using the machine, then ship the cell to that customer.

“In the past couple of years, we've seen quite a few instances where a customer starts out with a basic machine and then, either because they’ve intentionally gone after high-volume work or because they found themselves in some larger projects, they needed to add a robot that they didn’t want (to pay for) upfront,” he said. “Now they can do that.”

In this case, automation comes in the form of the Fanuc LR Mate 200iL, a six-axis industrial robot. A longer-arm version of the 200i, the 200iL is capable of reaching farther into the machine cabinet in order to make wheel changes, Remsing noted. “Everybody wants the robot to do more than just load and unload parts,” he said. “We are currently the only ones doing wheel change and part change in a single setup.”

For greater ease of use, FLX includes multiple doors that can be used to access the grinding area and automation bay for setup purposes. In addition, Remsing pointed out that the new machine is equipped with a much larger touchscreen operator panel than those on Star’s other offerings. Most of the other panels “look like a standard computer screen,” he said. “This one looks like a mini-fridge.”

FLX also features FlexiumPro CNC, the newest control platform from NUM Corp. Billed as 10 times faster than NUM’s previous control offerings, FlexiumPro CNC reduces machine warmup time and speeds up processing, Remsing noted.

According to Star, FLX is designed for precise grinding in both controlled and uncontrolled climate conditions, making it suitable for a wide variety of production settings, including harsh environments. In part, Remsing credits this to Star’s decision to use ball screws for the X, Y and Z axes instead of linear motors. “The thermal testing on this machine is quite stable,” he said, “and I attribute a lot of that to (eliminating) heat from linear motors and drives.” Another advantage of opting for ball screws is that there’s no need for a secondary coolant system to chill linear motors, he added.

What’s more, Remsing pointed out that substituting balls screws for linear motors and drives allows Star to price FLX more in line with similar systems on the market. He noted that the FLX version on display at IMTS, which included automation and 15 wheels, costs around $450,000. “For a fully automated machine with that kind of capability, that (price) makes us competitive with most everybody,” he said.

In addition to automation, FLX options include a bolt-on tooling rail with T-slot construction, a runout minimizer, and a two-wheel changer for non-automated machines. The basic FLX has a footprint of 72" W x 55" D, with D increasing to 94.5" when automation is added. The basic machine weight is 7,000 lbs., while the automated version weighs in at 9,000 lbs.

As is the case with all its machines, Remsing noted that Star offers U.S.-based users of FLX another key benefit: a closer source of customer service and support than European machine builders. “Everything from us — all the spare parts, all the service — comes out of northern Michigan,” he said, “so we can be much more proactive in taking care of these machines.”