How to save 40% in grinding times and costs

Using reliable and consistent precision grinding machines, a subcontractor has optimised the grinding process, feed, choice of disc and strategy and made savings in time and costs of 40%.

Continuous process optimisation, top quality and prompt delivery every time are the reasons given by Alexander Bischof, owner of Bischof Praezisionsschleifen, for his company's top position among profile grinding technology companies.

From the start of its journey towards becoming the leading Swiss precision grinding company it was accompanied by grinding machine builder, K Jung.

Ten years have already passed by since Alexander Bischof closed the 'profile grinding' gap in the Swiss market.

On looking back, he feels that he owes a large part of his success to his K Jung machines.

"Jung gave me powerful and active support when I was starting up," he says.

"That and the absolute quality and reliability of the machines are the reasons why I have invested in a new Jung machine nearly every year and now have eight of them." A bold decision, for in Switzerland grinding has to face strong competition from spark erosion.

Alexander Bischof's work therefore starts with advising customers and showing them the superior advantages and potential that grinding can offer, namely absolute precision, extremely short processing times and therefore the shortest delivery times, even for workpieces that are ready to install.

This is particularly surprising for customers with small and medium-sized production runs.

"The magnetic table of a machine can hardly be big enough.

The more parts I can clamp, the more efficiently I can work.

This is one of the reasons why my latest machine, the J630 D, is so popular with my customers.

The increase in demand has been almost explosive," says Bischof.

K Jung also offers customised special solutions and systems.

Combined workspace equipment, automation and automatic dressing systems have been revolutionising the grinding technology market for years.

Developments that, through practical knowledge and skill, have had a considerable influence on Alexander Bischof's company, too.

These include the fully automated head dressing system, which is an absolute hit for him.

"There is not just one diamond as before, but six to choose from.

You can use four of them in a single cycle for pre-dressing, roughing, fine grinding and the idle cycle.

Precision is an absolute dream.

The machine automatically takes measurements every 10 deg, reads them in and processes them.

Even if the diamond used is the wrong one a very accurate contour can still be ground because the machine is working with the actual diamond data." In addition to precision, Bischof particularly values the machine's consistent accuracy.

With the J630 D he can profile grind for about two months with the same diamonds and continue to achieve the required accuracy with ease.

* 30,000 operating hours - for Bischof the durability of the machines is a crucial factor in his association with Jung.

His oldest machine, a JA 500 CNC-E, has more than earned its keep with 30,000 operating hours.

The tolerances on the 150mm long workpieces that he is currently using it to grind are still in the range of 2 to 4 micron, as they were when it was new.

Tolerances like this are, moreover, the order of the day in Diepoldsau: Bischof is one of only three suppliers in the world selected for the chip industry.

The components are strips with a surface roughness of Ra 0.08 micron and each of the 40 grooves has been flat ground in a special process to a tolerance of 2 micron.

The ability to work with such precision on a permanent basis has required not only reliable machines and qualified operators, but also an appropriate environment.

At Bischof this includes fully air-conditioned production and inspection rooms and a central cooling plant with an integral cooling system.

Savings of 40% time and cost - Alexander Bischof has always considered grinding to be a very complex technique.

By optimising the grinding process, feed, choice of disc and strategy, he feels that it is possible to make savings in time and costs of 40%.

He shows an even greater sense of economic foresight.

While others are still coming round to the trend of operating a number of machines, this has long been a reality in Diepoldsau.

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