Challenge: The customer was outsourcing grinding of components and came to Glebar looking for a way to reduce lead times on parts, reduce costs, and bring grinding capability in-house.
Original challenge was to thrufeed 1-½” diameter, 15’ aluminum tubes removing 0.003”-0.006” per pass. The second requirement was for the machine to be capable of grinding 8’ steel tubes which featured a 1” diameter bearing surface in the middle of the tube which could not be ground. This meant that the grind would have to begin in the middle of the tube where the machine had to infeed into that section and then initiate a thrufeed process. The part also had a thin wall that had to be maintained and the grinding process had to be controlled to avoid burning.
Solution
Since Glebar develops our own software, a grinding sequence was programmed into the controls where the regulating wheel infeeds the part at a controlled rate and initiates the thrufeed process.
Glebar also has a vast variety of grinding wheels, and grinding experience, valuable in selecting the proper wheel for this process. The wheel selection was critical to provide efficient cutting action and reduced heat buildup.
The machine is built on a granite base which absorbs vibration, keeping the machine stable while grinding.
Independent slides reduce set-up and changeover time.
Custom, operator-friendly controls that are fully configurable.
Multi-axis controller can position both grinding wheel slides to a 0.1 micron resolution.
8-⅝” wide wheels result in efficient part grinding and less wheel maintenance.
