Many manufacturers have large inventories of active punches and high-volume dies that must be properly maintained to keep them in optimal condition. Regular maintenance improves the tool’s ability to produce clean cuts, straight edges, and maintains close dimensional tolerances on the part, minimizing potential quality problems.
By performing this type of maintenance correctly and consistently, manufacturers can save time and money. To speed up this process, many shops are resurfacing their own tooling for products such as punches, turret presses, ironworking tools, progressive dies, mold kits, carbide tools and indexable inserts.
In most turret press operations, molds are removed, disassembled, cleaned and inspected to ensure optimal performance for the next production run. The punch and die also benefit from surface grinding, which is why many manufacturers consider this a core principle of their maintenance programs.
Traditional surface grinding machines are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and most require constant supervision by the operator. More advanced automation capabilities can speed up the grinding process and allow shops to sharpen tools in minutes rather than hours.
“It takes less than five minutes to remove 0.010 inch from a tool during sharpening,” says Mike Anderson, industrial product manager for DCM Tech, a designer and manufacturer of industrial rotary surface grinders in Winona, Minnesota.
According to Anderson, surface grinding has many benefits, including significant increases in productivity, longer tool life and improved quality of finished parts.
“If a tool is left unsharpened for too long, it can seriously degrade its performance,” Anderson says, adding that tool life depends on the number of hits and the material being pierced. “Rotary surface grinding can reduce tool change costs by up to 40%. Additional time and labor can be saved by reducing or eliminating deburring operations,” says Anderson. “For these reasons, automation equipment can provide a return on investment in as little as one year.”
Traditional Tool Maintenance Issues Some shops outsource entire sets of sharpening tools to third-party suppliers, forcing the company to invest in another set of tools to support the set being sharpened. Other shops throw away tools when they are no longer effective, rather than sharpening them to extend the life of the tool.
For in-house tool maintenance, a simple bench grinder may be sufficient, but it gives no indication of how much material will be removed. This method will burn the tool, preventing sharp edges and breaking the tool.
In traditional reciprocating surface grinders, the tool is mounted in a fixture and the table moves back and forth under the grinding wheel—an inefficient method that requires multiple passes and a lot of time. With hundreds of tools at their disposal, operators will spend a lot of time on the grinding machine, monitoring and adjusting the feed.
Older equipment also has relatively complex wheels and discs to control the movement of the grinder. These controls require extensive experience and skilled operating skills. Ultimately, operators must be experienced and understand the ins and outs of each machine, which can become a challenge when experienced mechanics retire.
Given the limitations inherent in traditional tool maintenance, a growing number of manufacturers and shops are turning to more automated methods. Benefits of Automated Punch and Die Grinding
Technological advancements in the industry have increased the automation of punches and grinders using modern rotary surface grinder platforms. For example, DCM Tech’s Hammer and Die Grinder (PDG) is a 5 horsepower rotary surface grinder that is a turnkey package that includes automatic feed control, self-righting CBN abrasive, through-spindle coolant and universal accessories compatible with Amada, Trumpf. , Salvagnini, Finnpower, Weideman, Whitney and others.
In this type of equipment, the table rotates and the workpiece is held firmly under a vertical spindle. Grinding does not occur through the peripheral edge of the grinding wheel, but along the entire diameter of the grinding surface.
“With a benchtop reciprocating sander, it’s like trying to cut grass with the side of a lawn mower. By using just the edge of the blade rather than horizontally, the entire blade can cut a larger swath of grass. That’s why a rotary sander requires fewer finishing passes and faster,” explains Anderson.
Automatic PDG feed also eliminates potential problems caused by inconsistent manual control and improves operator productivity. Once the operator has prepared the sharpening tool and started the machine, he can leave and do other work. The PDG will automatically stop after feeding the selected amount of material and turn off the machine when the process is complete.
“Automatic feeding protects tools and machines from possible manual feeding by the operator and optimizes the process,” says Anderson.
To minimize the risk of tool fire, coolant is injected through the spindle from the middle of the wheel and outside where the wheel contacts the tool.
However, the shop floor can lose valuable production time if operators search for specialized attachments that work with the tools correctly. “DCM clamps are versatile and fit most turret tool shapes and sizes,” says Anderson.
The PDG holds the punch in place using a unique three-jaw chuck that can accommodate a variety of tools, from small punches to large dies. Standard tools sharpen roof punches and punches at an angle of up to 10 degrees. The optional quick-mount magnetic chuck allows grinding of removable inserts, rectangular tools and small shapes.
To speed up tool maintenance, the grinders are equipped with self-loading CBN grinding wheels, which provide new tool conditions and performance.
The company also offers the Mini PDG with a 1.5 HP engine. and a manual feed handwheel when less automation is required for in-camera tool maintenance, and has a more compact design. For large mold maintenance programs, DCM offers rotary surface grinders up to 48 inches in diameter.
Turret press operators have long relied on labor-intensive punch and die maintenance methods, resulting in slow production and excessive downtime. The automated features of modern rotary surface grinders will simplify tool maintenance in a fraction of the time, significantly increasing productivity, tool life and, ultimately, profits.
“Manufacturers can also sharpen non-turret tools, including small mold inserts, with equivalent time savings,” Anderson said. “Reducing tool sharpening turnaround times means tools can be returned to service sooner, and that’s the key – producing the most parts in the shortest possible time.”
Substances used for grinding, honing, grinding, superfinishing and polishing. Examples include garnet, emery, corundum, silicon carbide, cubic boron nitride, and diamond with varying particle sizes.
A rotating file-like tool that removes hard or soft materials. The teeth or grooves of the bur have a negative slope.
A fixture attached to the spindle of a milling, lathe, or drilling machine. It holds the tool or workpiece at one end so that it can rotate. It can also be installed on the machine table to secure workpieces. Two or more adjustable jaws actually hold the tool or part in place. Can be driven manually, pneumatically, hydraulically or electrically. Look, Chuck.
A fluid that reduces the temperature rise at the tool/workpiece interface during machining. Typically in liquid form, such as soluble or chemical mixtures (semi-synthetic, synthetic), but can also be compressed air or other gases. Due to its ability to absorb large amounts of heat, water is widely used as a coolant and carrier for various cutting lubricants, with the ratio of water to paste varying depending on the machining task. See cutting fluid; semi-synthetic cutting fluid; water-soluble oil-lubricating-cooling liquid; synthetic cutting fluid.
The crystal is made from boron nitride under high pressure and temperature. For cutting difficult ferrous and nickel-based materials up to 70HRC hardness. The second hardest material after diamond. See Super Abrasive Tools.
A machining operation in which material is removed from a workpiece using a mechanical grinding wheel, grinding stone, abrasive belt, slurry, sheet, compound, slurry, etc. Takes many forms: Surface grinding (to create flat and/or square surfaces) ; Cylindrical grinding (for cylindrical and conical shapes, roundings, undercuts, etc.); Centerless grinding; Chamfering; Threading and forming. Grinding; grinding of tools and instruments; manual grinding. grinding, grinding and polishing (sanding with very fine abrasive grains to create an ultra-smooth surface), honing and disc grinding.
Grinding wheels are made from abrasives mixed in a suitable matrix. The shapes are many, but they can be divided into two main categories: those that are cut on the periphery, such as reciprocating grinding, and those that are cut on the sides or front, such as tool and tool sharpening.
A holding device used on surface grinders and milling machines to hold ferrous metal parts with large flat sides. The holding force can be provided by permanent magnets or electromagnetic systems. Meet Chuck.
Flat, inclined or shaped surfaces are machined by passing the workpiece under the grinding wheel in a plane parallel to the wheel spindle. See sanding.
The workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a panel or clamped between centers, and rotated while a cutting tool (usually a single point) is fed into the workpiece along its perimeter, across its ends or edges. Takes the form of direct turning (cutting along the perimeter of the workpiece); cone turning (creating a cone); step turning (processing of different diameters on one workpiece); chamfering (removing a chamfer from an edge or ledge); end (end) cutting. ); thread turning (usually external, but can also be internal); roughing (volumetric metal removal) and finishing (final light cutting). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chuck machines, screw machines and similar machines.
Post time: Nov-06-2023