Grinders to meet increased oil, gas and aerospace insert demands

Walter Ewag Grinders to meet increased oil, gas and aerospace insert demands

24.01.2019Editor: Briggette Jaya

Gilmour Tools in the UK has expanded its range of Ewag machines with a Compact Line insert grinding machine from Walter Ewag.

The Compact Line insert grinding machine is to meet increased customer output in Gilmour Tools, which has customers in the aerospace, automotive and general engineering sectors as well as the oil and gas industry, the company says. This new machine complements five other Ewag insert grinders and is primarily deployed to produce threading-type inserts for the oil and gas sector.

Company MD Gary Gilmour notes that the 5.5 kW/7,000 revs/min Compact Line machine offers fast and accurate machining of inserts. This machine also represents the latest progressive upgrade to insert manufacturing at Gilmour's 10,000-sq.ft. factory in Scotland.

The machine’s “three-in-one” dressing unit is said to ensure grinding wheel concentricity, high process reproducibility and it offers wheel dressing, regeneration and “crushing” in a single package. Gilmour Tools specialises in the production of a wide range of carbide inserts for all oil threads in various complex shapes and materials alongside the production of toolholders and blades.

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The machine’s “three-in-one” dressing unit offers wheel dressing, regeneration and “crushing” in a single package.

This machine also represents the latest progressive upgrade to insert manufacturing at Gilmour's 10,000-sq.ft. factory in Scotland.

Capable of machining inserts made of carbide, cermet, ceramic and PCB/PCD, the six-axis Ewag Compact Line provides resolutions of 0.0001 mm (linear) and 0.0001°(rotary). Depending on the clamping system, the machine can accommodate a minimum inscribed circle diameter of 4mm (pin clamping) and 3mm (indexable insert clamping) and requires very short set-up times.

Applying protective chamfers on inserts’ main cutting edges is ensured by the machine’s optimised kinematics as well as by its C axis. Machine downtime is minimised by the machine’s short travel distances and by the integrated six-axis Fanuc robot that offers agile handling and a high degree of flexibility for loading complex inserts.

Machine usability and effectiveness is also guaranteed by the integrated ProGrind software, and the Fanuc control system enables all grinding routines to be programmed quickly and easily via its user-friendly touch-screen panel.

Renishaw presented at Formnext its Ren AM 500Q, a pioneering four-laser system that raises productivity while decreasing cost-per-part without compromising on quality. It boasts melt-pool and laser power monitoring capabilities to provide evidence of melting behaviour in real-time.

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