GT-610 Infeed/Thrufeed Precision Centerless
Grinding Machines Download GT-610 Brochure (Enclosed)

 Challenge

The operator would manually feed the stainless steel orthopedic pins into the centerless grinder then manually clean and gauge each pin. Manual input and adjustment were required during the process to ensure quality.

Increase process throughput and quality production by integrating automation. Produce a part every 13 seconds in an automated “lights out” system. Reduce the opportunity for damaging critical features in material handling.

Challenge:

The customer was outsourcing grinding of components and came to Glebar looking for a way to reduce lead times on parts, reduce costs, and bring grinding capability in-house.

Original challenge was to thrufeed 1-½” diameter, 15’ aluminum tubes removing 0.003”-0.006” per pass. The second requirement was for the machine to be capable of grinding 8’ steel tubes which featured a 1” diameter bearing surface in the middle of the tube which could not be ground. This meant that the grind would have to begin in the middle of the tube where the machine had to infeed into that section and then initiate a thrufeed process. The part also had a thin wall that had to be maintained and the grinding process had to be controlled to avoid burning.

Challenge: Satisfying the high volume finishing requirements for the complex form geometry on a hard carbide pin application. This compliments the PG-9DOD Carbide Pin Roughing Operation.

Challenge: To devise a new process for an automotive component manufacturer to automatically grind and gauge pinion shafts for differentials. The shafts are made of hardened steel. The Customer is looking to expand their automotive manufacturing portfolio by bringing large volume production in-house.

Challenge: To design a fully automated turnkey feeding and inspection solution, integrated into to a Glebar GT-610 Thrufeed Grinder that ensures a one hundred percent defect-free product that is ground to a minimum 1.7 CpK and packaged hands-free. 

Challenge: To auto thrufeed grind metal valve seat components which are used in the automotive industry. The customer needed a system which could accurately grind and gauge 3,000 parts per hour. The width and nonsymmetrical geometry, would be the most difficult challenge engineers would face in devising a successful staging and feeding process as they are not able to line and stack up onto a traditional conveyor without falling over. 

Challenge: To grind two mating metal components, with a tight clearance requirement between their surfaces, to create a powered arthroscopic shaver used in orthopaedic joint surgeries.

Challenge: A tier one automotive fastener supplier needed to grind bolts for a major automotive company automatically at high volume, with a high degree of precision.The customer’s existing process was outsourced and was running one part at a time, resulting in a higher cost for our customer.In addition, quality and consistency of the components post grind was an issue.

Current Process:

The grinding of stainless-steel shafts used for Hydraulic Spring Lifters was outsourced. This resulted in higher costs, as well as quality and consistency issues.

Challenges:

Deliver an in-house process to automatically grind a high volume of stainless-steel shafts used for Hydraulic Spring Lifters. The process had to remove a large amount of stock and maintain an 8Ra surface finish. The customer requested that the new process be integrated with their existing automation and superfinishing line.

Challenge: A food equipment manufacturer approached Glebar to improve productivity and reduce costs for their food filler machines. The metal spout requires grinding for several reasons. They come in contact with food, therefore requiring a smooth finish for sanitary purposes. The tubes are often exchanged on the machines to dispense various size pastries. Also, the mating housing for the spouts must be a close fit to prevent leaking and to keep appropriate content pressure to dispense the precise amounts.  Eight different components needed to be ground, all approximately four-inches in length, however they varied in diameters and weight. The variation of part geometries posed the biggest feeding challenge. Rapid changeover of grinding wheels was important to reduce setup time between the components. 

Challenge:  To size thin walled tubing used for surgical instruments insuring a mirror like 3Ra finish.

Challenge: Quality, cost control and lead time issues of outsourcing the pre-sizing of titanium and steel bars 

Challenge: To thrufeed grind ceramic pellets, which are used to manufacture radiopharmaceuticals (radiotracers) used in CT scans. The pellet count had to be tracked through the machine and the customer needed to measure a set frequency of parts that would be programmable. In addition to accounting for all the components, the machine had to separate the set number of parts processed for data collection.

Challenge: To thrufeed automatically thru feed grind an automotive component and achieve a 1.2 Rz surface finish