‘Balance’ of Power

ACCRETECH acquired the SBS Balancer Product Range some 2 years ago. In the two years since the purchase the synergy between the well-known brands has resulted a wide range of benefits to global manufacturers, not least within the area of grinding.

In addition to many other machine tool and inspection applications, ACCRETECH provides high-precision in-process gauging that delivers real-time measurement during grinding cycles. Whilst SBS is the world leader within the field of grinding wheel balancing and grinding process monitoring. Both ACCRETECH and SBS products can be specified as OEM equipment on new grinding machines or retrofitted to existing machines.

A prime example of a precision grinding company that relies on both ACCRETECH and SBS products to ensure the manufacture of premium quality, high-precision ground products is Tamworth, Staffordshire based SWD Precision Ltd. Founded in 2002 by Managing Director Stephen Drew, the company specialises in all areas of precision grinding. Accordingly, the business boasts an impressive collection of advanced, manual and CNC universal grinders, cylindrical grinders, bore grinders, surface grinders and jig grinders.  

Given the demanding sectors SWD Precision serves, including the F1 industry, and the challenging specifications of many of the components it produces, the pursuit of precision lies at the core of the company’s culture. To help guarantee that SWD Precision continues to deliver the standards of precision for which it has become renowned, the company makes regular investments, not only in first-class machine tools, but also in advanced production aids that enable its machine tool to achieve their full productive and precision potential.

Reflecting SWD’s quality culture, having recently ordered an advanced universal grinder from Timeline Machine Tools, Stephen Drew travelled to central China to observe the production and assembly of his new machine and to pass it off. Although the universal grinder was specified with an ACCRETECH in-process gauging system, once installed, to further expand the machine’s capabilities, the decision was made to retrofit an advanced SBS balancing system. 

In consultation with the technical staff of ACCRETECH UK it was decided that an SBS non-contact, automatic balancing system, consisting of an advanced SB-5500 controller, an external balance head and an acoustic emission monitoring system card, would constitute the ideal system. The compact SB-5500 controller features an all-digital electronic design and has a  large, high-resolution detachable display and provides unsurpassed accuracy of up to 0.02 micron at speeds from 300-30,000 RPM.

SWD Precision Managing Director Stephen Drew, explained. “Having enjoyed the benefits of using an SBS balancer that was retrofitted to one of our Jones & Shipman machines, we were keen to fit a similar system to our new Timeline universal grinder. As the machine was already fitted with ACCRETECH in-process gauging we are now reaping the high-precision benefits and efficiency gains of using ACCRETECH in-process gauging in combination with an SBS balancing system on a single machine. 

“We produce precision ground components for motor sport and other equally demanding sectors and for applications where a high-precision ground finish is required. We deal with small batch work and undertake short production runs therefore it helps that, in addition to increasing our grinding throughput and saving setup time, our new SBS balancing system is now ensuring our part quality by automatically balancing our grinding process to an accuracy of 0.02 microns. In short, our use of the SB-5500 SERIES balancing system has helped us to realise the full accuracy and productive capabilities of our new universal grinder.” 

As grinding is a dynamic process, out-of-balance influences constantly change. For instance, following the installation and balancing of a new grinding wheel, the wheel’s balance will soon start to deteriorate owing to causes such as wheel wear, absorption of coolant and the consequences of wheel dressing. Achieving an acceptable balance condition is critical, as out-of-balance situations can bring about quality problems, such as out of tolerance workpiece geometries and sub-standard surface finish levels. Just a small degree of out-of-balance can produce a range of issues, including excessive grinding wheel wear, also maintenance issues can occur, such as the need for premature bearing replacement. The use of SBS balancing systems allows users to accurately monitor and automatically correct unbalanced grinding wheels and to avoid costly problems. 

ACCRETECH Regional Director North Europe, Tim Wood added. “The demands on CNC grinding processes in automated and industrial applications can be extremely challenging. For example, many businesses are looking to achieve extremely demanding surface finish, geometric and dimensional specifications in the shortest cycle times possible. Therefore, diameter, size and position must be precisely and continuously measurable during the grinding cycle. Only by the constant acquisition of precise measurement data can specified tolerances be adhered to and an economical and high-quality CNC grinding process be guaranteed. The use of cost-effective ACCRETECH products, allows all of these objectives to be realised.

“Similarly, the dynamic balancing systems developed by SBS helps to ensure ground components’ premium quality as they are able to detect minute vibrations and dynamically correct them. SBS acoustic emissions sensors help to maximise the efficiency of grinding processes, improve parts throughput, and cut operating costs.”