Little or no CNC knowledge needed to use grinder

Even an operator with little or no CNC knowledge can precision grind complex shapes, angles and surfaces with a new 524 Easy touchscreen controlled surface and profile grinder.

Even an operator with little or no CNC knowledge can precision grind complex shapes, angles and surfaces with Jones and Shipman's new 524 Easy touchscreen controlled surface and profile grinder.

Once set up, fully automatic dressing and grinding cycles take the worry out of unmanned operation.

Alternatively, the 524 Easy, with its 500 x 200mm table capacity, can function as a simple hand controlled machine with manual dressing and no set-up procedures.

In a typical application, oil hardened cast steel components requiring 32 slots each 3mm deep where ground on a 5mm pitch to within Microns.

With its GE-Fanuc touchscreen technology and AC drives plus Heidenhain 10th Micron Scales this task was completed in a three hour unmanned cycle.

And in a second application, a press form tool requiring a radiused and angled form to be ground in D2 tool steel has been machined on a 524 Easy machine in just six minutes after initial wheel forming - including six in-cycle dresses of the wheel.

The 55 x 20 x 15mm press form tool had 3.5mm depth of stock removed to well within the required dimensional tolerance of ñ 0.005mm.

Such immediate improvements in productivity from inexperienced and experienced operators alike are the result of combining GE Fanuc Touchscreen technology with Jones and Shipman's own icon-based software.

Together they offer the advantages of computer numerical control without the inherent complexity or cost penalties of traditional CNC systems.

By the simple expedient of touching the appropriate icons on the easy-to-use control, the operator is guided through a straightforward process of digitising positions and creating programs comprising up to 20 linked cycles.

Cycles such as Plunge, Area, Multi-slot and Face grind can be executed individually or linked together in any combination.

Completed programs can also be simply and quickly uploaded to or downloaded from a PC or PDA as required, using J and S software, for storage or recall.

The choice of Manual, Dress or Grind Mode is made via membrane-type touch keys.

In Manual Mode dressing increments, speeds and feeds are adjustable via the touchscreen.

In Dress Mode five standard wheel options - straight, facing, slotting, vee form and full ISO - are available with one or two diamonds as needed.

Dressing increments, speeds and feeds are selectable via graphical menus.

In Grind Mode the complexity of the component is the deciding factor for the number of grind cycles required.

The operator is taken through menu-driven set-up routines in which software features such as DIGITISE during set-up, DRESS ON DEMAND and TRIM for both dress and grind datums plus RE-GRIND for any individually selected grind element without having to alter or adjust any program are selectable.

These features alone are set to make Easy models dream machines for operators old and new in both toolroom and production environments.

DRESS ON DEMAND, for example, allows straight or formed wheel dressing to be called up at the touch of a button at any time in Manual or single/multi cycle Grind Mode.

When in Grind Mode, the wheel returns after dressing to its last position before continuing the grind cycle.

In addition, dressing can be programmed to take place before or during the grind cycle, courtesy of the IN OR OUT OF CYCLE DRESSING feature.

Incidentally, compensation for dressing increments and diamond radii is automatic with all of the above features.

The wheelhead slide moves vertically on low friction, preloaded ball and roller bearings, thereby guaranteeing extreme sensitivity, while the hand scraped table and saddle slideways are Turcite coated and lubricated automatically to reduce friction to the minimum possible.

'Sliding dogs' set the table reversal length, their set positions being detected by proximity switches sited in the saddle.

Following on from Jones and Shipman's highly successful 540X/1400X and Format 5 surface grinder ranges, the 524 Easy continues a long-established tradition of excellence in manufacture.

Generously proportioned Meehanite bed and larger column, saddle and table castings all combine to create greater rigidity for optimum performance in terms of grinding accuracy and repeatability.

TechMaster and ProGrind Easy controlled models have also been launched simultaneously extending Jones and Shipman's new Easy Surface grinder range from 200 x 500mm up to 500 x 1000mm.

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