SHOP SOLUTIONS
welded steel or stainless steel tubing in sizes ranging from 5 to 8" (127–203 mm) OD and lengths from 24 to 120" (610– 3048 mm). These are formed and bent to the confi gurations seen on heavy-duty trucks of all types across the country.
Before they can be plated, the longitudinal welds and any surface imperfections must be polished. “The plated fi nish is directly proportional to the condition of the base metal. A scratch or ding will show right through it,” said controls engineer Eric Rempel. Lincoln Industries has the ability to plate almost any substrate but, unlike most platers, seldom applies a layer of copper under the nickel-chrome plat- ing. “Our goal is to avoid using copper because the cyanide involved creates health and environmental issues. It also adds another set of plating, pol- ishing and handling operations to the process. Instead, we put a lot more emphasis on polishing the base mate- rial,” Rempel said. To achieve the desired fi nish, most
parts are polished with a 120-grit abrasive belt, followed by a 220-grit belt and fi nished with a 320-grit fl ap wheel. Previously, the last two steps were either performed on two different machines or on a single machine with the head changed from a belt to the buffi ng wheel confi guration between operations. Either approach lengthened the production cycle time and required additional setups that increased the chances of handling damage. “We would run a batch of parts through one of the steps, then take them to another machine or change the fi rst machine over to the other head and run them through again,” said Rempel. To improve the operation, Lincoln consulted with Grinding & Polishing Machinery Corp. (G&P; Indianapolis, IN), a specialist in designing and building industrial grinding and polishing machin- ery. G&P, which had supplied polishing equipment to the company previ- ously, worked with Rempel and process specialist Jason Eickhoff at Lincoln to design and build a new machine that would overcome these issues.
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | January 2016
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