News
Special Purpose Grinding Machines for New Medical Device
Earlsdon Technology have recently supplied two different special purpose grinding machines to Dawson Medical Ltd, an associate company of Dawson Shanahan Ltd of Potters Bar and a specialist in high volume precision machining. The machines are used to grind very precise profiles into a key component of an innovative new medical device.
Dawson Medical sent the original enquiry to 50 potential machine suppliers in the UK, Europe and the USA. Because of the challenging requirement, Earlsdon Technology worked with various partners to develop a solution; including The Institute of Grinding Technology in Bristol, HMK Technical Services in Congleton, Saint Gobain Super-Abrasives in Gloucester and Oel-Held grinding fluids.
Earlsdon initially received an order for one machine to grind a critical profile, with the order for the second machine for a different operation being placed with a larger US manufacturer. While Earlsdon soon demonstrated their ability to meet the specification and their commitment to the project, the US company eventually had to admit defeat and Earlsdon took on the second machine as well.
David Dawson M.D. of Dawson Shanahan and Dawson Medical said "We really appreciate E-Tech's commitment to the project and their expertise in developing unique machines to meet the tight tolerances and high performance standards required."
Features of both machines include:
. Automatic loading and unloading.
. Twin grinding spindles using vitrified CBN wheels.
. Cutting speeds up to 120 m/s.
. Twin diamond rotary truers.
. Siemens CNC system with Profibus network, digital servo drives and absolute encoders.
. User friendly touch-screen interface.
. A modem connection for remote diagnostics.
. Automatic electronic grinding wheel balancing.
. Acoustic monitoring of the grinding process.
. Automatic separation of samples for SPC checks.
. High pressure coolant system delivering 70 litres / minute at 70 bar with 2-stage filtration.
. Production rates of 10 parts / minute.
Links
IGT
Dawson Shanahan
Oel Held
HMK Direct
- April 2002