The machine operating in our booth is grinding parts with a 12” diameter 4” wide grinding wheel which has a variable speed. As it is dressed, it will automatically change RPM to maintain surface footage. This way your grinding cycle times will remain constant as the wheel is dressed and gets smaller. It is also highly capable of using super-abrasives for more exotic materials.

A Starrett surface plate provides a perfect place to begin this machine’s description. It is lapped to .0002” over the entire surface of the granite. On top of the granite, we build a highly accurate system capable of grinding to under .00001” round and straight. The Ram Bed position control is our high accuracy frictionless cross roller with ball screw and servo motor movement. A glass scale with one tenth of a micron resolution reports the position to the machine controller. The HMI is a 24″ touch screen with all machine function controls.

The new innovative machine control is highly intuitive for all skill levels. Daily interaction is simple and easy to navigate. For the CNC dressers, programming can be done through the onboard wizards, and you can watch your dress path being programmed as each data point is input. If you choose to program in G-code, this is also available on the machine for dressing both wheels.

The wheel spindles are supported by class 7 ABEC angular contact ball bearings. This high quality, rigid spindle support design yields long life with superior roundness and size control.

The machine has a FANUC Robot to load and unload parts from a stack of multiple pallets in a unique vertical pallet storage system. The FANUC Robot is totally contained within the machine’s enclosure. The enclosure has access doors that, when open, allow for complete access to the Robot and Pallet stack. When the machine is operating, the enclosure doors are electronically interlocked for safety. The Robot automatically loads and unloads two parts at a time. The next part is placed immediately into the grind zone for fast and efficient cycle time.

The full machine enclosure provides for a safe, clean and quiet environment. Direct mounted air mist filtration keeps the air clean. Electronic interlocks on door openings keep operators away from moving parts as well as adhering to custom safety requirements. Coolant is well contained within the enclosure and channeled troughways as it recirculates to the paper media coolant filtration system. The electrical cabinet houses all electronic hardware in a spacious, convenient and well organized enclosure. The person tending to the machine doesn’t have to interrupt the grinding to exchange pallets.

Keyence has partnered with us to provide a post process, part measurement gauge. This has a rapid scan capability to report multiple dimensions and feed back to the grinder control for automatic compensation.

Schmitt Industries has partnered with to provide an SBS Dynamic Wheel Balancer with acoustic emissions. This advanced equipment can be seamlessly integrated to deliver optimal vibration analysis and control of grinding wheel balance. This integration eliminates the need for non-contact dressing passes of the CNC Wheel Dressers and non-contact grinding movement during each infeed grind cycle.