Company News

Advanced Grinding Solutions of Coventry were delighted with the level of enquiries that they received having exhibited at the recent Mach Exhibition.

Chris Boraston, Managing Director at AGS, comments:
"We supply niche market high end grinding and finishing machines and grinding wheels for special applications in what is already a specialist market and therefore we don’t get, and indeed don’t search for, large numbers of enquiries for general engineering applications. Mach was a success for us; it did not and would never bring us hundreds of enquiries but it did bring us a sufficient number of very interesting and challenging enquiries that made exhibiting well worthwhile for us."

At this years Mach AGS received a number of very serious enquiries from specialist customers involved in producing hard to manufacture components for the nice market sectors in which they operate including motorsports, aerospace and defence, medical, cutting tools and hydraulics. What was also especially pleasing for AGS to see was several large companies visiting them specifically to discuss older projects that were originally launched as long as 8 years ago that were shelved and have now become live again as they seek to again improve their manufacturing capabilities.

Great interest was shown in the newly launched Tschudin 400 Proline centerless grinding machine. This benefits from a new patent that has been granted to Tschudin for the world’s first centerless grinding machine that has automatic height adjustment of the regulating wheel. Apart from much faster and easier set-ups, the new regulating wheel CNC "Y" axis compensates automatically for any change of grinding geometry caused by wear to both the grinding and control wheels and thus guarantees that part quality remains consistent throughout long production runs.

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.

The largest number of enquiries that AGS received was for the Krebs & Riedel range of grinding wheels. Amongst others, AGS met with many smaller sub-contractors that all had a variety of grinding applications that they requested help with to see improvements in stock removal, wheel life, cycle times and surface finishes. Typical projects that AGS have now been tasked to work on included gear grinding, thread grinding, the form grinding of aerospace parts, and the grinding of stainless steel and cobalt chrome parts for the medical industry.

Krebs & Riedel who were founded in 1895 have been manufacturing high quality standard, diamond and CBN abrasives for over 100 years and are able to count leading UK engineering companies such as Perkins Engines and Delphi Diesel Systems amongst their ever growing customer base. Krebs who employs approx. 200 people is constantly introducing new types of wheels with improved grain structures and novel bonding systems that enhance grinding wheel quality and optimise performance. AGS now stocks over £100,000 worth of Krebs wheels at its base in Coventry and is able to offer UK customers full technical support and test wheels.

Another area of great interest was shown in the range of Haas universal grinding machines that AGS sell. AGS received visits from a large number of its existing customers in the medical and aerospace industry including one from the director of a large aerospace company that has a number of machines under order from them for grinding turbine blades which is very much a Haas speciality. AGS also received several enquiries from the medical industry for Haas grinders for the production of artificial knees, hip joints and bone reamers and cutters.

Haas manufacturers a range of machines from their very large CB machines to the mid-ranged CA machine and now the new CU machine that’s ideal for grinding inserts and rotary tools of all kinds. AGS have supplied several UK and Irish medical companies with CB machines to manufacture artificial knee joints and CA machines to UK aerospace manufactures for the production of turbine blades and other aircraft components. Haas machines benefit from having tool changers with a capacity of up to 27 different tools allowing for a variety of machining operations including grinding, milling, and drilling. Even belt linishing is possible on these advanced grinding machines.

AGS were also delighted to receive serious enquiries from two major UK tool manufacturers for Platit machines as used for the coating of cutting tools of all kinds. The in-house coating of cutters is becoming very important indeed for leading tool grinders as they seek to improve profit margins and to develop their own unique types of coatings that bring exclusivity and better performance to their own range of drills, end mills and inserts, in order to keep them ahead of their competitors.

AGS were able to demonstrate that the coating of tools in no "black art" and is a simple easy to handle process and a very important one for cutting tool manufacturers to control in-house. Apart from the obvious savings that can be made by not sub-contracting tools out for coating, the use of Platit machines and coating technology allows tool makers to offer their customers very quick turn-around times on special coated tools and to develop their very own improved coatings with ease.

Platit produces a range of machines for coating cutting tools including their Pi111 plus coating machine. This is a new compact and cost effective coating machine aimed at 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.

Advanced Grinding Solutions is already planning a much larger stand for the next Mach exhibition in 2018 where it intends to display a number of its grinding machines, finishing machines, coating machines and automatic loaders. Before then AGS with its Principal Haas will be present on the Haas stand D50 in hall 4 at the forthcoming Farnborough air show.

Anyone wanting more information can contact AGS via their website Advanced Grinding Solutions