Machine shops are increasingly turning to abrasive finishing tools that can be easily integrated into CNC machine turntables or tool clamping systems.
With new advancements in abrasive technology, machining center operators can complete surface finishing at the same time as other machining operations to speed up cycle time, improve quality, and save offline finishing time and costs. As a result, machining shops are increasingly turning to abrasive finishing tools that can be easily integrated into CNC machine turntables or tool clamping systems.
However, in doing so, it is inevitable that there will be problems with the use of abrasive materials in expensive CNC machining centers. It is generally believed that abrasives (such as sandpaper) will release large amounts of grit and debris, which can block coolant lines or damage exposed slide rails or bearings.
"These are very expensive and very precise machines," said Janos Garaczi, president of Delta Machine Company, LLC, a company specializing in the production of complex precision parts made of titanium, nickel alloys, stainless steel, aluminum, plastics and other rare alloys. Machining workshop. "I will not do anything that endangers the accuracy or service life of the equipment."
Fortunately, a careful study of grinding tools shows that these concerns are largely unfounded. Although abrasives are usually classified in the same category, a distinction must be made between abrasives and abrasive finishing tools used for the removal of aggressive materials. The finishing tool hardly releases abrasive particles during use, and the amount produced is equivalent to the metal chips, abrasive chips and tool wear produced during the machining process.
Even with the smallest amount of fine solids, the filtration requirements of grinding tools are not much different from those of mechanical processing. Jeff Brooks of Filtra Systems said that any particles can be easily removed using inexpensive bag or cartridge filter systems. The company specializes in industrial filter systems, including CNC coolants.
"Disposable media vacuum filters or pressure filters are the most cost-effective choice for end users to filter, and can achieve the high transparency required," Brooks said.
“For fine honing work, I recommend using at least a 20-micron bag filter or cartridge filter to capture any small solids and adequately protect tools, sump pumps and prevent clogging of coolant ports,” said sales director Chris Erato. Oberlin Filter is another leading manufacturer of separation filters for CNC cooling systems.
For CNC operators interested in fully automated pressure filtration systems, some devices do not need to remove the bag or clean the magnetic separator, thereby maximizing production uptime.
According to Tim Urano, Quality Manager at Wolfram Manufacturing, any additional filtration costs associated with the use of grinding tools are negligible, “not a real consideration, because a filtration system is already needed to remove the particles themselves in the coolant generated during processing. ."
In his shop, this includes scale, grit and rust from cutting raw materials. Wolfram Manufacturing is also processing more 3D parts made of Inconel, which can release fine metal powders into the incompletely sintered coolant.
As for grinding tools, Urano said Wolfram Manufacturing "never encountered any problems caused by the abrasive in our cutting fluid."
In the past eight years, the machining shop has integrated Flex-Hone into all CNC machines for cross-hole deburring and surface finishing. Flex-Hone comes from Brush Research Manufacturing (BRM) in Los Angeles. The product is characterized by small abrasive balls permanently installed on flexible filaments. It is a flexible, low-cost tool for complex surface treatment, deburring and edge blending.
It is essential to remove burrs and sharp edges from cross-drilled holes and other inaccessible areas (such as undercuts, grooves, grooves, or internal holes). Failure to remove burrs can cause blockage or turbulence in the flow of fluids, lubricants, and gases through critical channels.
"On a given part, we may deploy two to three different sizes of Flex-Hone, depending on the number of cross-port intersections and different hole sizes," Urano explained.
Flex-Hones are added to the tool conveyor belt and used daily, usually several times per hour, for some of the most productive parts in the workshop.
"Compared with the rest of the particles entering the coolant, the amount of abrasive that Flex-Hone may even fall off is insignificant," Urano said.
At Delta Machine in Gardena, California, automatic cross-hole deburring is also integrated into the CNC machining process.
"When you use Flex-Hone to deburr, all you do is deburr," Garaczi said. "It doesn't generate too much dust, so for me, any grit or dust released is zero problem. It's not like we grind the powder all over the inside of the machine-it's completely different."
For Eric Sun, the founder of Orange Vise in Orange County, California, even cutting tools such as carbide drills and end mills generate debris that must be filtered out of the coolant.
"Some machining shops may say,'I don't use any abrasives in the process, so my machine contains no particles at all,' but that's not the case," Sun said. "Even cutting tools will wear out, and cemented carbide will loosen and enter the coolant."
Although Orange Vise is a contract manufacturer, the company mainly uses aluminum, steel, and cast iron to machine vises and quick-change fixture parts for CNC machines. The company uses four Mori Seiki NHX4000 high-speed horizontal machining centers and two vertical machining centers.
According to Sun, many vices are made of cast iron with selective hardening of the surface. To match the surface finish of the hardened surface, Orange Vise uses the NamPower abrasive disc brush from Brush Research.
NamPower abrasive disc brushes consist of flexible abrasive nylon filaments bonded to a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic base and contain a unique combination of ceramic and silicon carbide abrasives. The abrasive wire works like a flexible file, conforming to the contour of the part, wiping and filing on the edge and surface of the part to provide the maximum burr removal rate and ideal surface finish. Other common uses are edge fusion, part cleaning and rust removal.
The abrasive wire works like a flexible file, conforming to the contour of the part, wiping and filing on the edge and surface of the part to provide the maximum burr removal rate and ideal surface finish. Other common uses are edge fusion, part cleaning and rust removal.
In order to complete the surface finishing operation, an abrasive nylon brush is installed in the tool loading system of each CNC machine tool. Despite the abrasives involved, Sun stated that the NamPower brush is a "different type of abrasive" because it is "self-sharpening" in nature. Due to its linear structure, sharp new particles are constantly in contact with the working surface and wear, exposing fresh cutting particles.
"For six years, we have used NamPower abrasive nylon brushes every day," Sun said. "During that time, we did not experience any type of particles or gravel entering any critical surfaces. According to our experience, any small amount of gravel produced is not a problem."
If you have been worried that dust and grit will mess up your CNC machine, remember that these particles can be easily removed with an inexpensive solution. EB
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