Grinding Technology
handle the data flow from the post processor. In essence, the loader is in charge of the cell or process, and the loader dictates when the machine can start, when the data flows and so forth,” said Ueltschi. “We have a number of variations of what we call simple
loading systems. There is the Studer easyLoad, the Studer echoLoad and the Studer smartLoad. These are pretty low-cost, basic approaches to automating the grinding process, specifi- cally designed to allow the machine to run unmanned for one to two hours. The machine control operates the loader in these cases, but they aren’t designed to allow the machine to run unmanned over a weekend or all night, lights out. Basically, the operator can take an hour or two out, to tend to another machine or to take a break, and then come back and load or unload the loading system, the baskets or trays,” Ueltschi said.
Data Control Measurement in Cells
Other types of automation used in the Cylindrical Division include gantry-type or robot-type loading systems. These do
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“These can be very complex systems, because the loader is not only loading the machines but handling other tasks like pre- and post-measuring, deburring and cleaning while the machines are grinding. You also have the capability to have the loader use the master gages to calibrate the gages automatically every so often. So, say you want to calibrate the gage every two hours, the loader will do that. You can also calibrate the pre- and post-gages, and it can also calibrate any in-process gage. Loading, unloading, measuring, deburring, cleaning, acquiring data, and calibrating gages all automati- cally make this is a really complex cell,” Ueltschi said.
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“Automation in this country is getting more and more essential to keep us competitive, labor-wise,” said Ryan Ber- man, president, Matrix Design. “When it comes to automating grinding systems, we’ve seen numerous applications on the cylindrical side, mainly because of the cycle times. Cylindrical grinding processes can have very fast cycle times. We did a job not too long ago with an 8.2-second cycle time. We see more automation on the cylindrical side, because of the very fast cycle times, than we have on the profile or creep-feed grinding side. Creep-feed cells seem to be larger and more
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more than just load and unload but provide stacking capabili- ties, which permit many more parts to reside in the system, facilitating lights-out operation. “We use a lot of robots that not only can stack but do other tasks as well. They can load the part into post-measuring systems or pre-measuring systems. Sometimes this is all in one cell. The most complex cell is a match-grinding cell where the loader loads the female part into a pre-measuring station where the ID is ground and pro- vides the data to grind the OD of the male part. Then the part goes into a post-measuring station where data are compared from pre-measuring to post-measuring and are evaluated as a clearance between the two. In this cell, we aren’t looking at grinding the part precisely to size, but rather grinding the part to achieve a precise clearance,” said Ueltschi.
“Automating grinding is becoming
very complex because it often involves integrating measuring systems, for example, and data management.”
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