Tschudin presents its latest machine, the Proline Centreless Grinder, expected to make a world debut at the Grindtec show in Augsburg in March. With the ProLine machines, Tschudin has eliminated almost all of the mechanical procedures for set up and grinding, especially the adjustment of the workrest blade height. It has created a centreless grinding machine that can be set up and operated by everyone. Additionally, the number of components on the machine has been reduced, resulting in lower maintenance costs. In a world first for centreless grinding, the regulating wheel on the new Tschudin machine is automatically adjusted in height by an independent CNC axis (Y-axis). 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.
Another unique feature on Tschudin machines is a movable workrest axis (W-axis). This allows for grinding several parts at a time or splitting up grinding processes into roughing and finishing in the same grinding cycle set-up. Thanks to the W-axis, the loading and unloading of the workpieces is always outside of the grinding zone.
Tschudin machines overcome the worst enemy of grinding, thermal expansion, by making machine base and spindle blocks from natural granite. A new option is a grinding spindle housing made from Invar.
Krebs & Riedel joins AGS to introduce new types of grinding wheels that 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 3 mm to over 900 mm in diameter with peripheral grinding speeds of up to 160 m/s.
Its range of wheels for the aerospace, gear grinding, and medical industries are a special focus this year. For grinding parts such as aero-engine turbine blades and segments, Krebs & Riedel has developed specially-bonded wheels that have an open structure to offer coolant has as much access as possible to the grinding point to avoid the risk of burning parts.
Krebs & Riedel also excels in the supply of special wheels for gear and thread grinding applications. 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.
A third focus at MACH are wheels used for the grinding of artificial knee joints on machines such as the Haas CB Grinders, also sold by AGS in the UK and Ireland.
On Wednesday and Thursday 13-14 April German grinding machine manufacturer Haas (no relation to Haas Automation of the USA) is presenting a range of machines, including the latest Haas Multigrind CU grinding machine. It can grind tools up to 300 mm long and 180 mm diameter. Haas will also be presenting grinding technology for aerospace components such as turbine blades, vanes and segments and for medical applications such as artificial knee joints, hip joints and rasps.
Also on Wednesday and Thursday, AGS welcomes Swiss coating machine manufacturer Platit that is showing off its new Pi111 plus coating machine. This compact coating machine is aimed at smaller manufacturers of cutting tools who have a need to coat up to 1,000 cutters a day. Platit offers standard coatings, for example TiN, TiCN, AlTiN, AlCrN, special ‘triple’ coatings with nanocomposite structures, for example nACo3, nACRo3, and also quad coatings, for example ALL4, TiXCo4.
On Thursday 14 April Bahmuller is presenting its grinding technology for fuel injection and turbo charger industries. It specialises in fast production grinders used for the mass production of automotive parts such as turbocharger wheels and shafts and various fuel injection components. Bahmuller has supplied numerous machines to Delphi Diesel Systems in the UK and has recently been successful providing machines with full automation to the turbocharger industry.
