Ewag’s peripheral grinder "halves processing times"

Variable grinding wheel diameters, up to 500 mm diameter, help to give time savings over conventional peripheral grinders. The combination of grinding wheel options and improved machine kinematics allow the processing of complex and concave shapes. In operation, the Ewag Insert Line produces a linear contact between the indexable insert and the grinding wheel. These positions between workpiece and grinding wheel ensure less friction, which means thermal stress in the contact area is correspondingly lower and surface damage is eliminated. Improvements in performance are also achieved via optimised grinding kinematics: for example, because the centre of the C-axis is located in the middle of the swivel centre of the B-axis, the machine's CNC axes require considerably less interpolation. Also, magnetically pre-tensioned hydrostatic guideways, a Granitan machine base and direct drives in all axes, improve accuracy and process integrity. Torque drives in the rotary axes and linear direct drives in the X and Y axes eliminate wear and thus improve precision. Targeted at traditional indexable insert processors working with batches of 100 to 10,000-off, the Ewag Line is supplied, as standard, with an automatic integrated handling system, 6-axis robot, for quick loading times of under four seconds.