opments include a wheel changer for production flexibility and continuing software development to meet the changing requirements for grinding high-performance end mills,” says Eric Schwarzenbach, president. “Our software development is im- portant for specialty tooling and inserts and for grinding end mills with variable indexing, variable leads, and variable rake angles to overcome machine harmonics that cause chatter. Ream- ers had unequal indexing for years to defeat chatter. It has only been in the last half-dozen years the unequal index or variable-lead helix was recognized as the solution for end mill chatter,” Schwarzenbach explains. Rollomatic’s wheel changer in- troduced for its five and six-axis tool and cutter grinders allows the user to dress and preset six wheel packs in the machine. “It’s very handy for short-run work or for long runs where wheels wear and have to be replaced. They can be replaced without shutting the machine down to pull the wheel pack,” says Schwarzenbach. Two tool-and-cutter grinder models
are available. The GrindSmart 528XS is a five-axis machine for manufacturing and regrinding end mills, drills, and deburr- ing tools from 1 to 25-mm diam. The GrindSmart 628XS is a six-axis grinder for manufacturing and regrinding round and nonround cutting tools from 0.1 to 16-mm diam. It features a V-block and steadyrest support system for handling metal, composite, and wood cutting tools, inserts, and medical and dental instruments. 3-D tool and machine simu- lation and Virtual Grind software enable precision manufacturing. Another grinding technology avail-
able from Rollomatic employs preci- sion pinch/peel cylindrical grinding for tooling-blank preparation, for pins and
punches in the mold and die industry, and for assembly pins and fiber-optic applications in the electronics industry. “In pinch/peel grinding the roughing wheel is slightly ad- vanced of the finishing wheel, both in the axial and the radial