Advanced Grinding Solutions

Coventry based Advanced Grinding Solutions are present at this year’s Mach exhibition on stand 4472 in the Grinding and Abrasives Zone. They are being joined by two of their principal suppliers for the duration of the event with both Tschudin (Centerless Grinders) and Krebs & Riedel (Grinding Wheels) supporting AGS and their various UK customers.

Tschudin are present to discuss their very latest machine, the Proline Centreless Grinder, that received its recent world-side debut at the Grindtec show in Augsburg. This machine answers Industries demands for highly consistent production quality. With its latest development of "ProLine" machines, Tschudin has taken on the task to eliminate almost all of the mechanical procedures for set up and grinding, especially the adjustment of the workrest blade height, and to create a centerless grinding machine which can be set up and operated by everyone. Additionally, the number of components on the machine has been extremely reduced resulting in lower maintenance costs.

As a world’s first in centerless grinding, and covered by a patent, the regulating wheel on the new Tschudin machine is automatically adjusted in height by an independent CNC axis (Y-axis). The optimum height of the workpiece in order to achieve the best possible roundness is done simply by digitally adjusting the height position of the regulating wheel. During the production process, the Y-Axis will also compensate automatically for any change of grinding geometry due to wear of both the grinding and the regulating wheels. Therefore the quality produced will remain consistent.

Another unique feature on all Tschudin machines is also the patented movable workrest axis (W-Axis) which allows for additional grinding processes such as the highly efficient multi part grinding of several parts at a time or to split up grinding processes in the same grinding cycle to have both a rough and also a finish grind operation in one automatic set-up. Thanks to the W-axis, the loading and unloading of the workpieces is always outside of the grinding zone, allowing simplified and safe automation or safe manual loading. This feature is highly attractive for those looking to meet health & safety obligations because otherwise the hand loading of parts to centerless grinding machines can be dangerous.

With the Tschudin’s machine base and spindle blocks made from natural granite and the optionally and newly available grinding spindle housing made from Invar, Tschudin is mastering the worst enemy of grinding which is thermal expansion due to heat variances. Ultra-precise linear slides, linear axis motors and programmable cooling supply systems are state of the art technology for the highest production demands.

Krebs & Riedel are joining AGS at Mach to introduce their new types of grinding wheels which have improved grain structures and novel bonding systems that enhance grinding wheel quality and optimise performance. Special wheels for gear and thread grinding will also be exhibited along with the Diamond and CBN wheels that have been manufactured by Krebs & Riedel for more than 20 years and are available from 3mm to over 900mm in diameter with peripheral grinding speeds of up to 160 m/s.

Krebs main focus at this year’s Mach will be on its range of wheels for the aerospace, gear grinding, and medical industries. Krebs are obtaining more and more references within the UK aerospace industry for grinding parts such as aero-engine turbine blades and segments. Here Krebs have developed specially bonded wheels that have an open structure to ensure coolant has as much access as possible to the grinding point to avoid the risk of burning parts and damaging the surface structure of parts that can otherwise result in very expensive scrap.

Krebs & Riedel also excels in the supply of very special wheels for gear and thread grinding applications and wheels are available to suit machines manufactured by Gleason-Pfauter, Oerlikon, Kapp- Niles, Hofler, Maag, and Reishauer etc. Krebs are also a member of the “Gear Research Circle” at Aachen University and are heavily involved in developing advanced wheels for the latest production technologies employed by leaders in the field of gear manufacture.

Finally krebs third chosen discipline for presentation at the Mach show are wheels as used by leading medical companies for the grinding of artificial knee joints on machines such as the HASS CB Grinders that are also sold by AGS here in the UK and Eire.

Later on in the exhibition AGS are being joined by several of their other Principals:

On the Monday and Tuesday, Advanced Grinding Solutions will be joined by the large Swiss based manufacturer of coating machines, Platit. Platit are looking forward to showing UK cutting tool makers their new Pi111 plus coating machine. This is a new compact and cost effective coating machine aimed at smaller manufacturers of cutting tools who have a need to coat up to 1,000 cutters a day. Platit offer all types of coating solutions including all standard coatings e.g. TiN, TiCN, AlTiN, AlCrN, special so called triple coatings with Nanocomposite structures, e.g. nACo3, nACRo3 and also new quad coatings; the latest cutting tool coating technology for very highest performance: ALL4, TiXCo4.

On the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Haas will be presenting their range of machines including their latest Haas Multigrind CU grinding machine that is ideal for manufacturing all kinds of precision cutting tools. The CU grinds tools up to a length of 300 mm and a diameter of 180 mm and leaves nothing to be desired when it comes to universal multi-axis machining. Haas will also be presenting the latest grinding technology for demanding applications such as the production of various aerospace components such as turbine blades, vanes and segments and for medical applications such as artificial knee joints, hip joints and rasps.

On the Thursday, it’s the turn of Bahmuller who will be present to meet their customers within the fuel injection and turbo charger industries. Bahmuller who recently celebrated 70 years of innovation in grinding technology will show their latest machine designs for their fast production grinders as used for the mass production of automotive parts such as turbo charger wheels and shafts and various fuel injection components. Bahmuller has supplied numerous machines to Delphi Diesel Systems here in the UK and have recently been highly successful in providing machines with full automation to the turbo-charger industry.

Go to the AGS stand 4472 to see the very latest Advanced Grinding Solutions.

AGS and may be contacted on 02476 22 66 11 or via their website www.advancedgrindingsolutions.co.uk Advanced Grinding Solutions