A growing number of new external/OD grinding
machine systems are being designed to take advantage of superabrasives. Meister
Abrasives USA, well known for its expertise in internal bore grinding, has also
developed a line of external abrasive products in parallel with this trend to
maximize grinding performance and minimize costs, a company spokesperson said.
Bruce Northrup, general manager of Meister Abrasives USA said, "Our company's early focus on small internal grinding wheels made it necessary for the company to pay very close attention to the consistency and quality of superabrasive materials and bonding system performance. Even small variations in these attributes show up quickly in internal grinding because the life of a small wheel is relatively short to begin with. Now that this expertise has been transferred to large wheels, users are experiencing quantifiable cost/performance advantages not only versus conventional wheels but also competitive superabrasive products. Users are reporting cycles up to 20% faster and/or cost per part reductions up to 30%."
"In the past, many manufacturers were wary of upgrading to superabrasives for their external grinding applications due to the relatively high cost of these products as compared to their conventional counterparts. In addition, there has only been a relatively small population of grinding machine systems with the proper stiffness, speed, accuracy, repeatability, and rotary dressing capabilities needed to fully utilize the advantages of superabrasives. That situation is changing rapidly," Northrup said.
"Manufacturers who considered but rejected the idea of using superabrasive wheels in the past now have a good reason to reconsider. In addition, there is a growing category of precision parts being manufactured from exotic materials that can only be ground with superabrasives. In both these situations Meister's premium quality external wheels may provide the best fit for the manufacturers' specific application," said Northrup.
"Meister external wheels are customized for each application relying heavily on the company's proven design expertise; exceptionally consistent, top shelf raw materials; and state-of-the-art bonding technologies, including its newest high-performance bond, HPB. As a result, these wheels deliver the long wheel life, consistent wheel-to-wheel performance, and low cost per manufactured part comparable to the company's internationally respected line of internal grinding wheels. Furthermore, wheel specifications can be tuned to provide ultra-consistent high volume manufacturing or the versatility that allows smaller shops to use a single wheel on a number of different applications.
"The Meister external line includes vitrified CBN and diamond wheels from ¯100mm(4") to ¯700mm(28") and lapping/fine-grinding plates up to ¯1220mm(48"), most of which are manufactured in its state-of-the-art production facility in Rhode Island to provide competitive pricing and delivery.
Applications supported include O.D. cylindrical, creep feed, surface, double disk, wafer back-grinding, as well as fine grinding and lapping. The most active markets for these products include the medical, aerospace, semiconductor, optical, tool & die, and automotive industries," said the company.
For more information contact:
Bruce Northrup
General Manager
Meister Abrasives USA
201 Circuit Drive
North Kingstown, RI 02852
401-294-2530
E-mail: brucenorthrup@meister-abrasives-usa.com