Grinding (Surface, Cylindrical, Tool & Cutter)

The ThyssenKrupp Crankshaft Co. in Danville, Illinois, operates up to 21 shifts per week to produce forged crankshafts for the North American heavy-duty automotive, truck, and engine markets. Meeting production needs requires precise technology, including a Zema Numerika GH1500 grinding machine from Junker.

Abrasive Technology Inc. discusses how superabrasive grinding wheels and tools with electroplated bonds are able to maintain tight-tolerance forms, provide freer cutting, and hold form or profile from the first cut to the last. In addition, the tools can be stripped and replated.

Whether operators use neat oils or water-miscible coolants in wet cutting machine tools or tool grinding machines, the coolants are subject to heavy contamination. VOMAT technology offers a variety of clean coolant technology to solve this problem and produce better cuts.

When considering upgrading a cylindrical grinding process from a conventional vitrified aluminum oxide or ceramic wheel to Vitrified cBN (VitcBN), there are 5 main reasons that can help justify the use of cBN over conventional abrasive grains.

The Tiger large diameter wheels for performance cutting and the Wolverine wheels for standard cutting include specialty products. Among those are the Tiger AO wheels for stud cutting, as well as Tiger AO and Wolverine AO wheels with single center reinforcement for increased speeds and burr-free cutting — both designed for use on chop saws.

Weiler Abrasives is offering the 4-1/2 inch Tiger Aluminum flap discs in Type 27 or Type 29 with either 7/8 or 5/8-11 arbor holes and two grit options. The 36-grit disc is a good choice for chamfering, weld removal and stock removal, while the 60-grit disc is ideal for weld blending, finishing and cosmetic detail work.

Schunk, a premium tooling and resharpening company in Germany, utilizes state-of-the-art grinding systems and an ANCA workflow RFID system to finish job packets in a chaotic fashion driven by production needs rather than by job order.

The US cutting tool manufacturer McQuade Industries Inc. has implemented a CNC upgrade program for its roster of 5-axis insert grinders, and the upgrades shaved more than ten minutes per part off the production time of complex geometry cutting tools.

Glebar's automatic dresser is available with manual or motorized quill advancement. With motorized quill advancement, it is possible to have a canned dress cycle. Operators can preprogram the frequency of the dress to run after a set number of cycles or time. This allows them to run multiple machines at once increasing their efficiency.

Reducing the environmental footprint in a production plant is often achieved with state-of-the-art production equipment, but many companies are looking to improve on these achievements.Oil filtration might be a good way to help improve the environment.

Want to eliminate grinding burn? Installing a refrigeration system won't do it.

The selection process is often one of trial and error working to optimize the combination of machine, cutting fluid, cutting parameters and grinding wheel.