Product category:
Tool and cutter grinding
News Release from: Walter GB | Subject: Helitronic Power tool and cutter grinder
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 26 August 2004
Tool and cutter grinder opens up regrind
market
One thing is certain when the world's largest manufacturer of carbide taps and end mills enters the market for a new tool and cutter grinder - reliability is the main requirement.
One thing is certain when the world's largest manufacturer of carbide taps and end mills enters the market for a new tool and cutter grinder - reliability is the main requirement So, when OSG UK - part of the multi-national OSG Corporation headquartered in Japan - started to investigate a new machine, the name at the top of the list was Walter GB of Redditch
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 15 Mar 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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OSG, which manufactures a staggering 1.8 million taps a month worldwide, gained majority shares in Norman Tap and Die, based in Harold Wood, Essex, in 1995, and having achieved full ownership in 1999 renamed the company OSG UK.
A period of investment followed and OSG UK has since built a healthy business manufacturing round shank tooling such as carbide taps, end mills and drills.
However, the recent economic slowdown has led many users to think carefully about the cost of carbide tooling.
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"We've been selling carbide tools for several years," says OSG's UK sales manager, Tony Cooper.
"Carbide tooling is not cheap and so, considering the difficult climate, we wanted to be able to offer customers the most value for their money.
The optimum route for this, we decided, was regrinding.
"For instance, if we can offer customers ten regrinds at 20 per cent of the original cost within the purchase package, they feel the original outlay is easier to justify." OSG UK then began the process of searching for a tool and cutter grinder that could be dedicated to regrinding.
But it didn't have to look far.
The relationship between OSG and Walter is long established.
The parent OSG Corporation in Japan has several Walter machines - and OSG UK also already had a Walter Helitronic Power five-axis tool and cutter grinder.
The tie between the two companies is further enhanced as OSG also sells Walter indexable tooling products as an agent in Japan.
"We knew Walter and we knew the quality and reliability of the machines," adds Cooper, "so, it was a natural choice." Having selected another Walter Helitronic Power - this time with Loader system for the automated loading and unmanned processing of up to 280 tools, depending on size - OSG has found the machine more than capable of handling all its regrinding demands.
The 11.5kW spindle drive and digital drives ensure rapid traverse rates of 15m/min in all linear axes and 120 deg /sec on the rotational axes - and the machine can accommodate tools 350mm long (300mm for face grinding) and 320mm diameter.
"Our strength as OSG is that we have access to all our original geometries, which means when we regrind tools we can get back to 100 per cent tool life - at least that is always our aim," explains Cooper.
He adds that the Helitronic Power makes light work of the complex geometry, sub-micron tolerances and high surface finish requirements.
However, the major benefit of the machine for OSG is the pallet Loader.
"The Loader is a big asset," he says.
"We can put several different batches of parts on the Loader - all we do is instruct the machine where each batch is located and the rest is automatic.
This is where we are making most of our savings as it means we can run the machine overnight, so there is no labour cost for us." Business at OSG is booming, with sales figures currently around 20 per cent up on last year, and this will certainly help future capital investment at the company.
"It was two years ago that we bought our first Helitronic Power and, at this rate, it will be less than two years before we buy another," concludes Cooper.
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