Ewag 4-axis Easygrind Masters PCD/PCBN

MIAMISBURG, OH — United Grinding Technologies, Inc. (UGT) announces the availability of the 4-axis CNC Easygrind, a compact addition to the Ewag line of high-precision tool grinding machines specifically for tough-to-grind polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and polycrystalline boron nitride (PCBN) tools and inserts.  According to Chris Stine, vice president, as the demand for tools of PCD and PCBN has begun to soar, so too has the attendant need to grind and regrind — especially automatically — these difficult materials. “The Easygrind was developed around the well-known RS 09 manual machine,” Stine says. “We’ve taken the proven precision and rigidity of that design and added the CNC and ease of programming of the Ewamatic line production grinding center. The result is a machine that’s highly productive, versatile and economic.”

Features

Grinding PCD and PCBN tools to a “ready to use” state is recognized as “very tough.”  The face of the diamond wheel dulls after only a relatively short time as the void spaces in the wheel bonding become clogged. At this point, the grinding face must be cleaned by “regeneration” with a SIC stick applied under pressure onto the grinding wheel face.During regeneration, a pressure regulation valve monitors the pressure between grinding wheel face and workpiece cutting edge and modifies the infeed. The user defines how much pressure is required between grinding wheel face and the cutting edge of the indexable insert to be ground. When the pre-set pressure value reaches a high level, the Easygrind automatically regenerates the grinding wheel, thus lowering the pressure to the pre-set value. After regeneration, the wheel is ready to resume continued grinding. 

3D & video measuring

Calculating stock removal in PCD and PCBN grinding is, quite simply, not possible. The considerable wear on the grinding wheel face, as well as the unknown stock removal of the tool being ground, requires an in-process measuring system to check effective stock removal.  On the Easygrind, an automatic swiveling 3D measuring probe inspects the cutting edge of the tool to be ground and automatically transmits compensation data relative to the infeed rate. The measuring cycle repeats itself several times during grinding, depending on the workpiece, and follows the “measure-grind-measure” principle until the required tolerances are achieved.