Issue Eight 2011 - Anca

WATCHING THE WHEELS 

Zoller’s iCheck system delivers results 

BLANKET GRINDING 

with ANCA’s innovative TXcell 

SEvEN HoT TIpS 

for carbide tool production 

ANCA GERMANY 

celebrates 20 years 

ISSUE EIGHT 2011

NaxoForce: 

Cutting Costs 

Switzerland 

Winterthur Schleiftechnik AG 

8411 Winterthur 

Phone: +41 (0)52 234 41 41 

Fax: +41 (0)52 232 51 01 

wst@winterthurtechnology.com 

Sweden 

SlipNaxos AB 

59383 Västervik 

Phone: +46 (0) 490 843 00 

Fax: +46 (0) 490 146 00 

support@winterthurtechnology.se 

United Kingdom 

Winterthur Technology UK Limited 

Sheffield S3 9QX 

Phone: +44 (0)114 275 4211 

Fax: +44 (0)114 275 4132 

info@winterthurtechnology.co.uk 

www.winterthurtechnology.com 

Germany 

WENDT GmbH 

40670 Meerbusch 

Phone: +49 (0) 2159 67 10 

Fax: +49 (0) 2159 80 62 4 

sales@winterthurtechnology.de 

Winterthur Technology GmbH 

72766 Reutlingen 

Phone: +49 (0) 7121 93 24 0 

Fax: +49 (0) 7121 93 24 24 

de.info@winterthurtechnology.com 

USA 

WENDT USA DUNNINGTON 

Royersford, PA 19468 

Phone: +1 (610) 495 2850 

Fax: +1 (610) 495 2865 

info@wdc.wendtgroup.com 

Winterthur Corporation 

Webster, MA 01570 

Phone: +1 (508) 949 1061 

Fax: +1 (508) 949 2086 

info@winterthurtechnology.us 

China 

Winterthur Technology (Taicang) Co., Ltd. 

215400 Taicang 

Phone: +86 512 8161 6800 

Fax: +86 512 8161 6822 

sales@winterthurtechnology.com.cn 

Australia 

Winterthur Technology Australia 

3198 Seaford 

Phone: +61 3 9773 5288 

Fax: +61 3 9773 5599 

guy@winterthurtechnology.com.au

02 

03 

04 

05 

06 

10 

16 

19 

20 

22 

24 

Cover Image: Gear-cutting hob resharpened on an ANCA TX7+ to Grade AAA. 

A market on the rise 

CEO Grant Anderson looks at the global grinding industry 

ANCA Germany - 20 years young 

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of ANCA GmbH 

ANCA gets GESAC seal of approval 

Xiamen Golden Egret tours ANCA factories 

Apprentice training centre launched 

New initiative at ANCA’s Melbourne plant 

Seven hot tips 

ANCA provides the good oil on carbide grinding 

Cool runnings 

Blaser Swisslube’s Rico Pollak on the impact of coolant 

TXcell and blanket grinding lead the way 

ANCA’s innovative new grinder increases productivity 

How to run a grinding test 

Winterthur’s Walter Graf with some sage advice 

CIM3D version 7 

A sneak peak at what you can expect from the new CIM3D 

Watching the wheel 

Zoller’s iCheck system saves time for Carbro Corp. 

Software tips 

How to get the most out of your iGrind suite 

The Sharp Edge is published by ANCA Pty Ltd. 25 Gatwick Road, Bayswater North, Victoria 3153, Australia. www.anca.com 

Executive Editor: Rob Chiarolli Editor: Steve Hitchen 

Contributions, Comments, Feedback: Got Some Comments? Ideas for articles? Please send your feedback and enquires to 

marketing@anca.com. All contributions are welcome 

Know someone who would like their own copy of The Sharp Edge. Please advise us and we’ll send them a copy. 

CoNTENTS - THE SHARP EDGE

After the challenging global financial crisis abated 18 months 

ago, the tool and cutter grinder market has shown significant 

improvement, giving ANCA plenty of reason to be optimistic 

about the future. 

We have been able to respond to the rapid growth in demand 

for our machines by ramping up production at our Bayswater, 

Australia and Rayong, Thailand plants. Our manufacturing 

output is now three times what it was in the first quarter of the 

2010 calendar year. There is no doubt that ANCA machines are 

more sought-after by our customers than ever before. Almost 

all global regions show improving trends in the order books, 

with Asia leading the way. 

New investment has added extra capacity to both plants 

and enabled us to expand our machine shop, necessitating 

an increase in labour across the company. We are now well 

positioned to take advantage of the growth in demand 

expected in the coming months, giving us the flexibility to 

respond quickly to customer requirements. 

ANCA Group Growth 

ANCA has been a truly global company for many years, but 

we continue to expand our reach into developing markets 

to ensure our customers get the best possible service in the 

quickest possible time. There have been a number of new 

facilities added to ANCA in the recent months. 

• A new office in Bangalore, India to improve our service to 

this important emerging market 

• A new engineering centre of ANCA subsidiary ANCA Motion 

in Melbourne, Australia 

• An expanded facility in Taiwan for ANCA Motion 

Manufacturing 

• A demonstration centre for ANCA Machine Tools in Taiwan 

2 ANCA - Issue 8 2011 

A market 

on the rise 

each of these initiatives will provide ANCA with an increase 

in capacity and capability, and our customers can expect the 

benefits to flow on to them in the coming months. 

The Pursuit of Customer Satisfaction 

Our customer focus has developed further with the intent 

of providing complete satisfaction in everything we do. This 

includes product, quality, delivery and service, whilst adopting a 

streamlined approach to doing business. 

As part of this goal, we have refined our operations in the 

last year in the areas of marketing and product management, 

manufacturing management and engineering. We have also 

established a dedicated After sales and service division with a 

clear focus on service and training. 

And we won’t be stopping there. A number of exciting new 

projects are being developed and will be launched progressively 

in the next 18 months. each one of these is designed to further 

enhance our customers’ experience of dealing with ANCA. 

I would like to thank our global customers and suppliers for 

their business and support over the last 12 months. The strong 

relationships we have forged will continue to provide benefits 

for all of us well into the future. 

Grant Anderson 

Chief Executive Officer

ANCA Germany — 20 Years Young 

In 1991, ANCA made a critical decision to set 

up a new branch office in Germany, and this 

year celebrates the 20th anniversary of this 

major milestone in the company’s history. This 

is the story of ANCA GmbH.. 

ANCA’s move into Germany in 1991 was not so much a first 

step, but rather an expansion; the company had had sales 

people on the ground for some time. However, with the release 

of the innovative TG7 machine, local tool manufacturers began 

to see the potential of the ANCA product, encouraging the 

company to commit themselves to a presence in Europe. 

ANCA Director and co-founder Pat Boland at the opening of ANCA GmbH in 1991. The 

branch has gone on to be one of ANCA’s most important offices. 

ANCA - Issue 8 2011 

Directors Pat Boland and Pat McCluskey were faced with the 

truth that the epicentre of the world-wide grinding machine 

industry lay in the heart of europe, and particularly in Germany. 

For the Australian company to expand, they had to take on their 

competitors in their own backyard, and that was going to take 

hard work and determination. No-one has ever accused the 

Pats of lacking either of those. 

Twenty years later, ANCA GmbH is one of the company’s most 

important facilities, servicing a broad customer base right 

across the continent. Jan Langfelder, Managing Director ANCA 

GmbH was there at the beginning in 1991. 

“We actually incorporated the company in January 1991, but 

didn’t have the official opening until after eMO in June of that 

year. Our first location was part of a factory 

in Dusseldorf, where another Australian 

machine tool builder, LaserLab, used to reside. 

We had customers in Southern Germany 

and Switzerland. Mannheim seemed to be 

geographically suitable location to settle at. 

shortly after the company was incorporated, 

the economy faced crises and 1991-1992 were 

challenging years, not only for ANCA GmbH. 

Regardless, the company was committed to 

the European market and was not swayed by 

the tough start. It turned out to be a great 

decision. 

“Europe is the industry technology centre,” 

says Langfelder. “It was tough being from a 

company so far away, and from a country 

3 

ANCA NEWS

[Australia] without a strong association with engineering as 

such. The break-through came in 1993 when we released the 

MG7. With integrated automation and revolutionary software 

concept, we started to get some significant orders from major 

companies.” 

It was a lonely beginning for Langfelder, who was effectively 

the only person in the branch at the start, but he has plenty of 

friends now as the Mannheim facility houses over 20 staff and 

contains a spares store and demonstration centre. However, 

ANCA GmbH has outgrown its traditional home, and another 

expansion is planned. 

Jan Langfelder: “We are on the move again. In the near future 

we are planning a purpose-built facility that will cover almost 

2,000 m2. It will house a machine configuration and rebuild 

centre, the spares store and a state of the art demonstration 

centre to accommodate wide portfolio of our CNC grinding 

machines. 

“It is what we need to do to keep up with growth and make 

sure we continue to offer good service and spares delivery to 

customers in Europe. When you are on the doorstep of your 

major competitors you have make sure your customers are 

not disadvantaged by your headquarters being so far away [in 

Melbourne].” 

ANCA Gets GESAC 

Seal of Approval 

Chinese company Xiamen Golden Egret 

Special Alloy Co. Ltd (GESAC) is one of the 

largest-growing tool manufacturers in Asia, 

and one of ANCA’s most important partners. 

So far, GESAC has ordered 64 ANCA machines, with 43 already 

installed. As ANCA’s biggest customer in China, GESAC Director 

Mr Wu Gaochao and Vice General Manager Mr Li Lingxiang 

were invited to visit ANCA’s Thailand and Australia plants from 

24-29 April 2011. 

Before visiting ANCA Thailand, GesAC senior management 

was concerned about the assembly quality and employees’ 

skill level and discipline, in particular, when they learned that 

our factory is near the famous resort of Pattaya. However, to 

their surprise, they found a very clean, tidy, well organized and 

managed factory. Every item in factory was in good order and 

the machine fitters were working very efficiently. 

Mr Wu and Mr Li have visited a lot of machine tool factories in 

Germany, switzerland and usA and they commented that ANCA 

Thailand factory is one of the best among all machine tool 

factories visited. 

After Thailand, the GesAC people moved to the ANCA factory 

in Melbourne, inspecting the machine shop, assembly area and 

R&D grinding Centre.During the summary meeting of this trip 

with ANCA senior management, Mr Wu presented a special gift 

to ANCA director Pat McCluskey: a crystal award stating that 


ANCA GmbH has outgrown its Mannheim home and will soon be relocating to a 

purpose-built factory with expanded facilities. 

Building company-owned premises is a sign of commitment 

and confidence in the market. For ANCA, it also represents 

encouraging growth and confirmation that the decision to set 

up ANCA GmbH 20 years ago was a good call.s 

GESAC Director Mr Wu Gaochao presents the crystal award to ANCA 

director Pat McCluskey as ANCA CEO Grant Anderson, Regional Sales 

Manager james Tang and Branch Manager - Asia Jeff Foregard look on. 

ANCA is the best long-term strategic business partner of GESAC. 

Mr Wu commented that this partnership will be more and 

more important as GesAC cements its place in the cutting tools 

industry worldwide, with the aim of becoming the world top 

class tool manufacturer. 

Mr Wu and Mr Li said that ANCA had a lot of talented 

employees and great products, especially the control system 

and application software. Most important of all, Mr Wu stressed 

that customer orientation and quick action to solution is ANCA’s 

leading success factor, citing the new top clamp system as an 

example. 

GESAC believes ANCA will have a very bright future by 

overcoming some small quality issues. Inspired by results of 

this trip, Mr Wu suggested that they would come back to ANCA 

Melbourne and ANCA Thailand to celebration once they order 

place more machine orders on both factories.s

Apprentice 

Training Centre 

Launched 

A state-of-the-art Apprentice 

Training Centre has been launched 

at the ANCA manufacturing facility 

in Melbourne, Australia. 

ANCA is a world class innovative technology provider and has 

built a rich tradition of training apprentices and trainees over its 

37 year history. 

After many months of detailed preparation, an initiative of 

Pat McCluskey (Joint Managing Director) was launched after 

the assistance of many ANCA colleagues and some technical 

suppliers. ANCA has opened a new purpose-built Apprentice 

training Centre in an ANCA manufacturing facility in Melbourne, 

Australia. ANCA has dedicated a large area of previous 

production space to the Apprentice Training Centre. 

McCluskey, one of the two founders of ANCA, states that “it was 

important to me to pass on to others the excellent opportunity 

that I received when I underwent my apprenticeship many 

years ago. It really can lead as far as you want to take it. We 

deal with an exciting area of manufacturing industry at ANCA 

and I would like to share that with others. We will be teaching 

everything from mechatronics to fitting and turning. Another 

reason we launched the Apprentice Training Centre is because 

we couldn’t find training centres for trade level machine tool 

techniques. So we decided to establish one ourselves where we 

could train apprentices in-depth on how to build CNC machines 

and all associated skills”. 

Included in the brand new equipment sourced from everywhere 

from the uK to the us is a Festo Pneumatics training board 

and an ITu electrical Controls training panel. Apprentices will 

also undertake tasks such as building robot arms and learning 

to control them through their computers. Training will be a 

combination of ANCA-based training and one day per week at 

TAFE. 

ANCA will work closely with AiGTS (Australian Industry Group 

Training Services), who assists with the employment and 

administration of the apprentices, during the four year term 

of each apprenticeship. Five new apprentices started in May in 

addition to the placement of several apprentices in 2010. These 

apprentices will be the first apprentices to pass through the 

new training centre, and will help shape the training and skills 

development for future apprentices. 

The apprentices will spend their first 12 months in the training 

centre being taught the fundamentals of fitting and machining 

under the careful guidance of the Head of the Apprentice 

Training Centre, Roy Tomalin. They will be involved in building 


scale models of lathes, model robots, and building machines 

from the base to completion whilst they develop the important 

skills of scraping, grinding and machining before moving to the 

various areas in the workshop to further develop their skills. 

On the evening of Thursday 12th May ANCA launched the 

Apprentice Training Centre with AIGTs, parents, family and 

apprentices in attendance along with management and staff 

of ANCA. The evening was a huge success with parents noting 

what a “clean and modern” facility the ANCA factory is, and 

touched with the effort made to ensure their children were 

welcomed and were obviously entering a professional training 

and career choice. All parents and friends agreed that the 

apprentices are in for a fantastic four years of training and their 

careers in engineering will ensure they are highly skilled and 

sought after in their future endeavours. 

each apprentice was presented with an Indenture Certificate 

with official red embossed logo which was signed on the 

evening by the apprentice, guardian Pat McCluskey and the CeO 

Grant Anderson. This ceremony was undertaken to represent 

the Indenture ceremonies that represented the beginning 

of apprenticeships in the past and to communicate to the 

apprentices the importance of what they are undertaking. 

These indenture certificates will be held at the centre for 

presentation to each apprentice upon their completion of the 

apprenticeship. 

AiGTS employment consultant Craig Hilton made comment 

at the launch that “AiGTs are thrilled and appreciative of the 

efforts made by ANCA, and particularly the investment made by 

Pat McCluskey, to provide a facility such as this to allow young 

people to enter the trade of engineering and be able to learn in 

such a great environment”. 

ANCA and AiGTs look forward to training apprentices and 

to watching young people invest in their own futures by 

participating in an apprenticeship. ANCA also look forward to 

seeing these apprentices step into integral roles at ANCA in the 

future.s 

Top: Pat McCluskey (centre) shows new apprentices the finer points 

of CNC machine tool engineering. 

5 

ANCA NEWS


Seven 

Hot Tips 

Accelerate Carbide 

Tool Production 

Are you serious about carbide tool 

production? At ANCA, we certainly are! After 

24 years designing and building advanced CNC 

tool and cutter grinders, we’ve mastered a few 

tricks to get the most out of your tool grinder 

to produce high quality carbide cutting tools 

all day, everyday. 

Here’re our 7 hot tips to help you notch up 

your production rates and profitability. 

1. 

Wheels 

The wheel is the world’s greatest 

invention, make it work overtime 

for you 

To extract the most from your tool and cutter 

grinder for carbide tool production, it’s vital 

that you are using the right wheels, that they 

are perfectly balanced and qualified and that 

you keep them in top condition throughout a 

complete batch. 

So it all starts with wheel selection. Which wheels you select for 

each operation, can have a significant impact on tool quality, 

cycle time and the cost of your consumables. So choose your 

wheels carefully. Work closely with your wheel supplier to 

match wheel technologies to your application.

There are four basic criteria for selecting the perfect wheels for 

your application: 

• Wheel size and shape 

• Grit size 

• Grit material 

• Grit bonding method 

Your wheel’s size and shape will be largely determined by your 

application requirements and the physical constraints of your 

tool grinder and process. 

Choosing a grit size is relatively straight forward. use coarser 

grit size for heavier applications such as fluting; a medium grit 

size for more general grinding and roughing operations such 

as back off grinding, some point grinding, gashing and some 

profiling. Select a finer grit wheel for finish grinding, profiling 

and smaller tools. 

There are three grit materials commonly used in tool grinding. 

The hardest of these (Diamond) is the only grit type typically 

recommended for carbide grinding. The other common grit 

materials used in production grinding are Cubic Boron Nitride 

(CBN); which is often recommended for precision grinding of 

steels and Aluminium Oxide; which is softer than CBN but is 

easily dressed in process. 

The three most common grit bonding systems are resin bond, 

metal bond and vitrified bond. Each bond has its advantages 

and disadvantages. Resin bonds are most common and are also 

the most flexible. They can provide a good balance between 

form holding and wheel breakdown. Metal bonds tend to be 

much harder, making in-process dressing more difficult, and 

are best used in profiling operations as they provide the best 

wheel shape retention. Vitrified bonds can be a lot softer and 

can lose wheel shape much easier, though this type of bond is 

the easiest to dress both in and out of process. Recent grinding 

wheel technology has produced wheels with hybrid bonds. 

These wheels are best used for fluting as they provide much 

better wheel shape retention and thrive on deeper cuts with 

higher feedrates. 

Preparing the wheel for grinding is very important when 

manufacturing carbide tools. Most wheels should be dressed 

from new once mounted on your wheel arbor. Dressing the 

wheel on the arbor you intend to use is best practice. This 

ensures concentricity, helps with wheel balance and will be a 

contributing factor towards tool finish, wheel life and ultimately 

efficient carbide tool production. 

Once dressed, the wheel pack should be balanced. A balanced 

wheel pack avoids vibration and can contribute not only to 

improved tool finish, but also to extended wheel life, ultimately 

adding to your bottom line. Make sure you balance the wheel 

pack in the state it will be used on the machine. There are many 

methods which can be used to balance your wheel packs, 

however, the most accurate technique is to utilize balancing 

assist software built directly into some advanced tool grinders. 

This type of software detects vibration patterns in a spinning 

spindle and tells you exactly where to install your balancing 

weights. 

Conditioning your wheel (also commonly known as white 

sticking) clears out accumulated debris built-up between the 

grits. White sticking your wheel in-between tools helps to 

reduce the load on your wheel. You want to keep your wheel 

cutting your tool, not just heating it up. So white sticking helps 


your wheel stay efficient in-between dressing cycles. This 

means that you can run with a higher feedrate and really load 

up your wheel, knowing that it is cutting true to form. Keep 

an eye on your spindle load meter for several tools so you can 

get a feel of how often to white stick your wheel. If your tool 

grinder has an automatic white sticking option, make sure you 

schedule this into the process periodically to keep your wheel 

cutting strong. 

Depending on the type of wheel you have chosen, you may 

need to dress the wheel again during a batch if it dulls off too 

much or starts to lose shape. Advanced tool and cutter grinders 

often include in-process dressing abilities and you should 

schedule a dressing cycle after an appropriate number of tools 

if your wheel is of a dressable design. Ideally, your CNC tool 

grinder will automatically compensate for the slight change to 

the wheel diameter introduced by the dressing cycle. 

Your wheel supplier should be able to give you the correct 

wheel speed for your wheel in RPM or surface speed. Feed rates 

will vary between different tools and operations. Optimal feed 

rate is a balance between wheel wear, spindle load, tool rigidity, 

finish, accuracy and cycle time. Your wheel supplier should be 

able to give you a starting point but you can gain significant 

improvements in cycle time or accuracy by optimizing your 

feedrate to suit your specific application. 

So to sum up, the wheels you choose for your job, what speeds 

and feed you run and how well you setup and maintain your 

wheels before and during the job all have a huge impact on 

your ability to crank out quality tool after quality tool at a 

profitable rate. [901 words] 

7 

SEvEN HoT TIpS

2. 

Coolant 

Get your coolant clean and mean 

Your coolant has two primary jobs; lubrication and heat dissipation. 

The goal in coolant delivery is to inject the coolant as far as 

possible into the cut zone so that each wheel grit is lubricated 

throughout its entire contact run. This is not as easy as it looks 

though. You need to ensure your coolant system has sufficient 

pressure to obtain the required velocity needed for the particular 

operation at hand. At the same time, having the proper flow 

rate and temperature control will help dissipate heat away from 

the cut zone. Laminar (also called coherent-jet) nozzles can improve 

the effectiveness of both the pressure and flow that the 

coolant pump is supplying. Delivery of coolant into the cut zone 

as a laminar flow reduces the amount of turbulent air that is induced 

into the coolant stream. Air in the cut zone will decrease 

the cooling and lubricating efficiency of your coolant so it pays 

to get your flow as laminar as possible. Laminar nozzles are also 

more forgiving in terms of the distance your grind point can 

drift from the nozzle orifice allowing you more flexibility in your 

setup. If you also grind HSS, coolant delivery and flow to the cut 

zone are even more critical than for carbide grinding. 

To keep sufficient coolant flowing into the cut zone, make sure 

your coolant nozzles are mounted relative to each wheel pack, 

ensuring your coolant nozzles are directed at the cut zone 

whilst remembering that the cut zone relative to the wheel can 

alter during the course of an operation and can differ for each 

operation you perform on the tool. 

In some cases, you might find that directing one coolant jet 

tangential to the wheel, just in front of the cut zone “drags” 

coolant into the zone more effectively than directing the jet 

straight at the cut zone. 

Keeping these factors in mind can benefit the grinding process 

by 

• Reducing dressing frequency 

• Reducing wheel load 


• Producing less thermal damage to the work piece 

• Less coolant jet deflection caused by the vapor barrier 

surrounding the wheel 

An often overlooked factor is the cleanliness of your coolant. 

If your coolant gets contaminated, it adds friction to your 

process and you’ll find you need to slow your feedrate down, 

the surface finish of your tools will degrade and your wheels 

will wear quicker. Dirty coolant cannot efficiently carry grinding 

swarf away from the cut zone therefore causing the grinding 

wheel to load up sooner than expected. 

Micro sized tools are a good example where clean, temperature 

controlled coolant delivery are of the utmost importance. 

The high surface finish and tolerance requirements typically 

demanded in small tool manufacturing require the wheel 

to remain very free and sharp in its cutting action to avoid 

unwanted tool deflection. A good filtration system will help 

maintain your coolant in pristine condition. 

In short, you want to keep your coolant injected deep into the 

cut zone and whether your grinding process requires heavy 

stock removal or the fussiest surface finish, good coolant 

filtration is a major contributor to efficient carbide tool 

production so keep your coolant clean and mean.

3. 

Support 

Give your tools the support they 

need 

When it comes to work-holding for carbide tool production, 

you are often faced with the question of whether to include 

additional support for the tool or simply rely on the collet 

clamping mechanism to provide that support and grind the tool 

“free-ended”. 

It’s true that a tool support system like a pop-up steady or 

a tailstock can, in some cases increase the setup time for 

a job, but you need to trade that off against the potential 

improvements you can gain in cycle-time. Often thought of as 

an aid to tighter tolerances, the humble steady rest can also 

be used as a production rate amplifier. By supporting the tool, 

you can ramp up the feedrate without suffering tool deflection. 

And in the last few tools prior to an automated wheel dress, 

a steady rest can help maintain your tolerances and avoid 

breakages, even as the wheel starts to dull off. 

Since no one support system suits all applications, 

manufacturers of modern tool and cutter grinders usually 

provide a choice of tool support systems from manually 

adjusted steady rests, right through to fully automatic, self 

centering, multi-diameter, multi-point clamping supports 

and tailstocks on programmable axes that move in perfect 

synchronization with the grinding wheel to always provide 

support where it is needed most. In the case of an automatic 

tailstock, it is even possible with an advanced system, to 

program the force that the tailstock will exert on the center, 


“... perfect 

synchronization with 

the grinding wheel 

to always provide 

support where it is 

needed most.” 

allowing you back it off for some operations like cylindrical 

grinding. 

As we’ve mentioned, the main reason to support your tool 

is to reduce deflection of the tool during grinding. Reduced 

deflection will improve your tolerances, run-out and surface 

finish. These characteristics feed directly into a higher quality, 

longer lasting tool that you should be able to charge a higher 

price for. But also, don’t forget to crank up your feedrate once 

you start supporting your tools, particularly during fluting, 

normally the slowest cycle in the production process. The 

increased support will in many cases allow you to chew through 

more carbide per minute without sacrificing tool quality 

or wheel life, further increasing your efficiency and adding 

incremental gains to your profitability. 

Even though you might expect to wear out your grinding wheels 

faster using a tool support system due to your faster feedrates, 

supporting your tool can in some cases actually extend the life 

of your wheels. The vibration that can be induced by grinding 

an unsupported tool can lead to chipping and wear along the 

edge of the wheel which can dramatically shorten the useful 

life of your wheel. You can minimize this undesirable effect by 

utilizing good tool support. 

It also pays to utilize a tool support system because you can in 

some cases, reduce the overall length of your tools because 

with good tool support, you might need less shank length in the 

collet to clamp on which means a shorter blank for the same 

uted length, so you get valuable saving on your raw carbide 

costs. 

So give your tools the support they need, so you can crank up 

your profits by increasing your feedrates at the same time that 

you are improving the quality of your finished carbide tools. 

Continued on Page 12 

9 

SEvEN HoT TIpS

Blaser Swisslube AG Head of Grinding 

Technology Rico pollak shares some thoughts 

about grinding fluid in this interview with The 

Sharp Edge. 

What is the ideal grinding process? 

That is a difficult question: I don’t know whether the ideal 

grinding process is even possible. Grinding is a very complex 

procedure, and after over 25 years of grinding experience, 

I think the best process is the one that makes the best 

compromise. 

The ideal grinding process would remove the maximum amount 

of material without any damage by heat, pressure or vibrations, 

while complying with surface quality requirements and 

tolerances. And if it were truly ideal, it would do all this reliably 

over a reasonable time period without blunting or excessively 

wearing the grinding disk. 

Why is grinding such a complex procedure? 

Grinding abrades the material rather than cutting it off as in 

most machining processes. And there are various phases before 


Cool 

Runnings 

How Cutting Fluids Impact the 

Grinding Process 

Modern cutting fluids have to meet wide-ranging 

requirements: technological, ecological, worksafety 

and cost-effectiveness. 

material removal even starts: first of all only the surface is 

chafed, then comes the furrowing phase, followed by gouging, 

and finally the actual material removal phase. In all four of 

these phases the material is warmed up considerably, so it is 

not surprising that 90 % of the energy input is transformed into 

heat and only 10 % is used for actually removing material. The 

cutting fluid plays an important role here, not only for heat 

removal but also for enhancing efficiency in all phases. 

What must the cutting fluid do? 

Firstly, it must cool – the friction heat developed during grinding 

has to be removed in order to prevent grinding burn, microcracks 

in the workpiece, or destruction of the grinding grain. 

secondly, it must flush the chips out of the grinding zone – to 

uphold surface quality and a sharp cutting edge. Thirdly, it must 

provide optimal lubrication – to reduce friction and enable 

higher grinding speeds and material removal rates. And last 

but not least: it must not only be safe for humans and the 

environment, but also machine-compatible. 

What does optimal lubrication mean? 

The primary purpose of lubrication is to reduce friction. 

Lower friction reduces heat development and the associated 

risk of grinding burn and micro-cracks. However, lubrication 

negatively influences the continuous self-sharpening effect on 

the grindwheel – but on the other hand it reduces grindwheel 

wear thereby. I would therefore define optimal lubrication as 

the best compromise between minimum friction and maximum 

self-sharpening effect. 

How can users take account of this? 

While copious lubrication reduces heat development, 

it also hinders penetration of the grinding grain, so that 

greater pressure is required between the grindwheel and 

the workpiece. This can cause grindwheel distortion and 

eccentricity with vibrations, leading to chatter marks on 

the workpiece. All in all: the deeper the cut, the greater the 

lubrication.

How can users select the most suitable 

grinding fluid? 

Each grinding process must be viewed as a whole. Most 

crucially, the grindwheel specification must suit the workpiece 

material. Decisive is also the difference between light grinding 

(cylindrical and flat grinding with low feed rates) and deep 

grinding. Putting it simply, for light grinding I would recommend 

a fully synthetic grinding fluid or an emulsion with low oil 

content, and for deep grinding with high material removal rates 

I would recommend a grinding oil or an emulsion with high 

oil content. For grinding hard metals it is better to use a fluid 

that prevents cobalt release. As you can see, the most suitable 

product depends on the application in question. 

How do you take account of the 

latest technologies in your product 

development? 

New materials, innovations in grindwheel technology, and everincreasing 

machine performance, also pose new challenges 

in grinding fluid development. In high-performance grinding 

technology, for example, peripheral speeds of 120 m/s are 

quite normal today – more than 400 km/h! Ideally the grinding 

fluid should leave the nozzle at the same speed, which is only 

possible at high pressure. This places extreme demands not 

only on foaming behaviour, but also on the emulsion as a 

whole. And the increasingly stringent legal requirements must 

also be complied with. 

All these trends have to be taken into account in developing 

new grinding fluids. Our specialists in various disciplines – 

chemistry, tribology, analysis, machining and grinding, safety 

– play a dynamic role in our development process. Another 

important aspect in staying on the front line of development is 

our intensive contact with customers and partners, machinery 

and grindwheel manufacturers, as well as universities and 

technology institutes. 

How feasible would it be to entirely 

dispense with grinding fluids? 

Minimal lubrication technology can be used today for a number 

of machining applications, but not for grinding, because the 

chips are much too small for adequate heat removal. For this 

reason I am convinced that grinding fluid cannot be dispensed 

with. 

To what extent does grinding fluid 

influence productivity? 

Increasing productivity means finishing more workpieces in the 

same time, by increasing the feed rate. This is possible with the 

right grinding fluid, which can also influence grindwheel wear 

and sharpness. Other productivity factors are long grinding fluid 

life and good machine compatibility, thereby saving disposal 

outlay and minimizing standstill time. sophisticated additives 

can enhance these qualities. s

4. optimise 

Invest minutes in optimization to save hours 

in production 

There is an age old saying that’s goes “Do it once. Do it right”. 

This holds true for production grinding too. You can save 

valuable time and money by taking a few minutes to set up and 

tune your carbide tool grinding process. A modern CNC tool 

and cutter grinder will have the capability to be finely tuned to 

maximize the efficiency of your production runs. 

Optimization begins with good setup. We’ve already discussed 

the physical aspects of setting up your tool grinder for carbide 

tool production; the importance of good wheel selection, 

coolant quality and flow, and the benefits of tool support. But 

what about the setup of the programs that will run your batch? 

A huge time waster can be configuring the software of your 

CNC tool grinder to actually grind exactly what you want to 

produce. The software installed on the CNC of your modern tool 

grinder should have user friendly screens to guide you through 

the setup process. If you are grinding very complex or unusual 

tools, you might need to ensure your CNC is running high end or 

specialist software options that help you to easily configure the 


geometry of these tools or you could waste hours or even days, 

trying to setup a tool that the software was never designed to 

cater for. 

One very effective way to quickly prove out a new tool design 

that could save you a big chunk of non-production down-time 

on your machine is “Dry Run” mode. When you have entered 

all the data describing your tool and the grinding cycles you 

want to run, switch on your CNC’s “dry run” mode and give the 

cycle a quick run through to check that all the machine motion 

looks reasonable. Better yet, perform your dry run using your 

CNC’s MPG feed feature if it has one. This ingenious invention 

lets you prove out a complete tool program by simply winding 

the hand-wheel. This leaves you in complete control at all times 

and eliminates any surprises you might otherwise get if you 

accidentally put the decimal point in the wrong place for one of 

your parameters! 

Dry running your program is effective and can save you lots of 

time and scrap tools, but by far the best time saving you can get 

for program setup is to go “offline”. Invest in a PC loaded with 

an identical copy of your CNC’s software and preferably 3D 

simulation software for the grinding process. You can then 

setup your next tool while the machine is busy producing the 

current batch. 3D simulation has revolutionized the CNC tool 

grinding industry and if you don’t have it in your shop, you will 

be losing out big time to your competitors who are using it. 

With 3D simulation, you can see exactly how the tool will look 

like and verify and measure the actual geometry, then make 

as many design changes you like, all without interrupting your 

machine tool from its very important job of making money for 

you. 

As well as selecting efficient spindle speeds and feedrates, there 

are other simple things you can do to maximize your production 

rates; some as simple as flicking a switch. The first thing to 

do is to switch on adaptive feedrate control on your CNC if it 

supports this feature. Adaptive control will alter the feedrate 

depending on the spindle load so you can go faster over the 

shallow cuts and the CNC will automatically slow the feedrate 

down during deep cuts. This translates immediately into faster 

grind times and maximum use of your expensive machine. 

Before switching on adaptive control, you should check your 

wheel specs first. some wheels, such as hybrid bond diamond 

wheels, must be loaded up aggressively to keep them sharp. 

It also pays to experiment. By monitoring the spindle load 

meter, you will sometimes find that you can lower the spindle 

speed and increase the feedrate for an aggressive cycle time 

improvement. 

Remember, the bigger the batch or the more times you 

anticipate running the same batch, the more it pays to spend 

some time in optimizing your process. You can even get to the 

point of optimizing the distance of approach, retract and gap 

movements between cycles to reduce cycle times, although 

you will find that on current releases of modern tool and cutter 

grinder software, that the software is often smart enough to 

make these adjustments for you automatically so your machine 

spends more time cutting metal and less time unproductively 

grinding fresh air. 

Remember, each optimization you make can be automatically 

reapplied the next time you run the same batch so it’s definitely 

time well spent, and when setting up “Do it once. Do it right!”

5. SpC 

Deploy your anchor to avoid drift 

There’s nothing more frustrating and costly than an unmanned 

production batch gone wrong half way through. Your tool 

grinder should have a number of features to help you monitor 

and control your process from the first tool in the pallet to the 

very last. 

If you’ve optimized your process properly, machine and tool 

accuracy should be very stable throughout an entire batch. 

However, due to wheel wear and possibly machine accuracy 

changes due to temperature shifts, you might experience slight 

inaccuracies creeping into your process during the grinding of a 

batch, which, if unmonitored, might result in part of your batch 

being ground out of spec. 

statistical Process Control (sPC) is a statistical technique for 

monitoring and controlling a process to ensure it remains 

within desired boundaries. If your CNC includes in-built SPC 

software, then you can switch this on and it will use the touch 

probe to monitor small samples of tools, usually by measuring 

the OD size or flute depth and will then feed adjustments back 

to the CNC to ensure the process stays within spec for the 

whole batch. Your sPC software will also chart the progress 

of your batch and report on your capability index so you 

have immediate feedback on the quality of the tools you are 

producing. 

Although modern tool grinders are built to minimize the 

effects that changes in temperature can have on tool accuracy, 

today’s tight tolerance requirements mean that in some 

cases, you’ll need to make adjustments to the process as the 

ambient temperature of the process changes. If you have a 

6. Unattended operation 

Turn off the lights to save the planet 


coolant chiller and good ambient air conditioning, this effect 

will be minimal, but not everyone has the luxury of a tightly 

controlled thermal environment and some people run to such 

tight tolerances that even slight changes in temperature can 

adversely affect tool quality. 

This is where Coolant Temperature Variation (CTV) 

Compensation can help. If your tool grinder is equipped with 

CTV, then at periodic intervals during a large batch of tools, 

the machine can use the touch probe to reference a known 

surface, re-calibrating the machine axes on the fly. The sample 

frequency can be increased at the start of the batch while the 

machine temperature stabilizes. The compensation can be 

scheduled at any point in the operating sequence to ensure 

the compensation occurs as near as possible to the most 

critical grinding operation. CTV can help you achieve very tight 

tolerances throughout an entire production run. 

so make sure you utilize good process monitoring and control 

techniques and take full advantages of your tool grinder’s 

automatic measurement and compensation features. 

If you’ve followed the previous five tips, your tool and cutter grinder should now be purring away, churning out quality tool after 

quality tool. If you grind a tool with an extremely long cycle time or if you’ve got a suitable automatic tool loader on your machine, 

you can now ramp up your profits by ramping down your supervision of the machine. switch off the lights in your factory and let the 

machine do the work for you, confidently knowing that your machine is well tuned and optimized, with your process under constant 

surveillance and control. 

Many tool and cutter grinders now include automated wheel pack changers. If your tools require some heavy cutting or ultra-fine 

tolerances, particularly if you are not able to dress in cycle, it’s a good idea to include multiple sets of identical wheel packs so you 

can schedule wheel pack swaps mid batch to keep your production process accurate and efficient. 

In the unlikely event that something does go wrong during grinding, it is possible with some tool grinder CNCs, to have the machine 

automatically send you a message via sMs, email or instant messaging, telling you exactly what the problem is. even if no problem 

occurs, it can be useful to use the CNC’s messaging feature to let you know your pallet is full of perfectly ground carbide cutting 

tools, just waiting for you to unload and turn them into profit. 

13 

SEvEN HoT TIpS

7. Do it Again 

Rinse and repeat 

A modern tool grinder gives you incredible flexibility to quickly 

design, setup and grind a myriad of complex cutting tools, but 

never forget that a repeat order for a batch you’ve already 

optimised will be profit straight in your pocket. For your regular 

runs, try to keep a set of wheel packs just for that job and make 

sure you have a good filing system for your wheel and tool 

definition files. This will cut your setup and qualification time 

down dramatically and get you moving from batch to batch in 

no time at all. 

Now, all that’s left is to put your feet up and relax, or head to 

the golf course while your machine makes the money for you, 

grinding a complete batch of quality carbide cutting tools. 

Better yet, why not head back to the office, grab a coffee and 

fire up your 3D simulator to work on your next job while the 

machine’s busy spitting out carbide swarf. 

A 3D simulator is not only good for setting up your next job 

offline, but it’s also an invaluable package for new tool design, 

optimisation, diagnostics, costing and training. You can also use 

it for marketing; just email 3D models of completed tools to 

your potential customers to show them quickly what you are 

capable of producing. 

If you want to branch out into a new market, some tool and 

cutter grinder suppliers will let you load a new application 

software package onto your simulator for free. You can 

then explore the market, become familiar with the software 

and produce 3D models of tools to email to your potential 

customers for acceptance or simply publish them on your 

company’s web page to get your product out there. 

Then, when you have secured the order you can commit to 

purchase the software for your grinding machine and actually 

launch into production of real parts with a high degree of 

confidence. 

Your 3D simulator is more than a piece of software and can 

directly contribute to the efficiency of your carbide tool 

production. It’s like a swiss army knife for your grinding 

business, with equal parts; 3D simulation, design, optimisation, 

diagnostics, training and a marketing tool. use it to its full 

potential and watch your business soar! s 


“use it to its full 

potential and watch 

your business soar!”

Seven Hot Tips Summary 

so, when you’re setting up your next batch, remember these 7 hot tips to accelerate your carbide tool production: 

Tip 1: The wheel is the world’s greatest invention, make it work overtime for you 

� Choose the correct wheel shape and size 

� Choose the appropriate grit size for the job 

� Choose the appropriate grit bonding method for the job 

� Dress the wheel (if applicable) on its arbour 

� Balance the wheel 

� White stick your wheel regularly during production 

� use in-process dressing (if applicable) 

Tip 2: Get your coolant clean and mean 

� use a high pressure, high flow coolant system 

� Mount your coolant nozzles relative to your wheels 

� use laminar flow nozzles 

� Keep your coolant as clean as possible 

Tip 3: Give your tools the support they need 

� use automated tool support whenever possible 

� Try increasing your feedrates once your tool is supported 

� Reduce your clamping length to optimize your blank length 

Tip 4: Invest minutes in optimization to save hours in production 

� Make sure your software fully supports your tool types 

� Monitor spindle power to tune your spindle speed and feedrates 

� switch on adaptive feedrate control 

� Optimize your approach and retract moves 

� use “dry run” mode to prove out your new tool designs 

� use MPG feed to improve safety and efficiency of your dry runs 

� setup your next job offline on a PC running 3D simulator software 

Tip 5: Deploy your anchor to avoid drift 

� use statistical Process Control (sPC) software to monitor and control your process 

� use Coolant Temperature Variation (CTV) compensation to keep your machine 

perfectly calibrated 

Tip 6: Turn off the lights to save the planet 

� use an automatic tool loader 

� use an automatic wheel pack changer 

� Switch on process messaging to keep you up to date via SMS 

Tip 7: Rinse and repeat 

� Keep one or more sets of pre-qualified wheel packs for each regular job 

� Organize your part and wheel description files to make batch changeover as smooth 

as possible 

� use your 3D simulator to prospect for new business 


15 

SEvEN HoT TIpS

TXcell and blanket 

grinding lead the way 

Demands on grinding machines change rapidly in today’s 

dynamic market. Often, just when a dedicated line is beginning 

to generate realistic profits, the market shifts, creating the 

need to re-tool. And customers are now demanding an everincreasing 

range of tools, in smaller batches and of higher 

quality, whilst at the same time insisting on cost savings and 

quicker deliveries. Tool manufacturers have no choice but to 

become more agile and responsive to their customers’ demands 

if they want to remain competitive. 

Too often, tool manufacturers are frustrated in their attempts to 

respond by the lack of flexibility in their tool grinders, making it 

hard for them to meet customer requirements. This increased 

need for tool makers to become more agile and responsive 

was the prime motivation behind ANCA developing the TXcell 

concept and a new process known as blanket grinding. 

The process and the machine combine to create greater 

opportunity to run the grinder without human intervention, 

and that means a significant cost saving. 


The machine 

The TXcell mates two proven production superstars–the ANCA 

TX7+ and the Fanuc M20i/A robot–to create a grinding cell 

with new levels of potential in productivity, accuracy and costsavings. 

This is achieved by using the flexibility of the Fanuc 

robot to load tools, change wheel packs and perform ancillary 

operations that previously would have required extra machines. 

Now, for the first time, one machine is capable of making a 

complete tool from bar stock to finished part. 

At the heart of the TXcell is ANCA’s flexible software package, 

which has been the industry benchmark for easy-to-use 

software for over 30 years. As well as containing the iGrind 

suite, the software creates a seamless interface with the Fanuc 

robot that enables the two machines to operate as one coordinated 

grinding cell that is optimized to reduce cycle time 

and increase productivity across the batch. 

Further flexibility and economy comes through the machine

configuration, which starts with a simple nine 

wheel-station, two-pallet cell, and can be 

expanded up to 24-station, four-pallet option. 

Manufacturers can select the best TXcell variety 

to suit their business model without having to 

pay for capability they may never use. Regardless 

of the cell size, there are common benefits across 

the range. 

Operations that once required manual 

intervention are reduced or eliminated 

completely. With storage for up to 24 wheel 

packs, there is minimal need for the machine operators to 

handle the wheel packs. This reduces the pack-change time and 

increases safety because the operators don’t need physically 

place heavy wheel packs into the spindle themselves; the 

powerful Fanuc robot does all that for them. 

And with the ability to fit up to four wheels per pack, the 

cell will store and deploy a large number of wheels, meaning 

the right wheel is more likely to available for even the most 

innovative of tool design features. John Leppin II, of Garr Tool 

in Michigan, usA, recognized the capability of the TXcell almost 

immediately. 

“We face limitations with the number of machine operators we 

can get, so anything that can reduce machine down time is an 

advantage,” he observed. “With over 20 wheel packs available 

on the TXcell, we would look to have simplified wheel-pack 

configurations to avoid interference issues and simplify the setup. 

Then if we have repeat sets of those wheel packs, we can 

do batch runs of over 1000 tools in a single run.” 

One of the largest contributors to machine downtime can be 

the time taken to re-tool and tweak the set-up for a new batch. 

Even that has been accounted for in the design of the TXcell 

with tooling and scheduling software that will reduce the batch 

set-up downtime to almost zero. 

Blanket grinding 

As alluded to in the name, the ANCA-developed process of 

blanket grinding covers all the processes needed to go from bar 

stock to finished tool, with only one machine and one set-up. 

This eliminates the need for the separate sequential machines 

and processes that are traditionally needed to manufacture 

a complete tool. This makes the process far more efficient 

by reducing capital investment costs, factory floor space 

requirements, inventory stock and—most importantly—labour 

for manual handling and machine set-up. 

TXcell is flexible enough to include a variety of pre- and postgrinding 

operations directly into the cell. This satisfies the 

needs of customers like Duane Gliniecki of Sumitomo Electric 

ANCA - Issue 8 2011 17 

GRINDING TECHNoLoGY

Industries, Wisconsin, usA, who comments: “we are continually 

under pressure to combine processes. Bringing in a process like 

brush honing into this grinding cell is a great possibility”. 

Other ancillary processes such as laser etching of tools, 

deburring, or quality inspection can be integrated into the 

TXcell program. And since the robot handles these operations 

while the machine is busy grinding, that’s money saved, straight 

to the operator’s bottom line. 

Accessories 

ANCA’s TX7+ has matured over the years into an established 

market leader that lends itself well to customization. Labourand 

time-saving accessories such as Cimulator3D, in-process 

dressing, white sticking, P-axis steadies and iView camera all 

contribute to the target of lower cost and higher quality output. 

For tool manufacturers, this all translates to a competitive edge 

in the market place. 

Ancilliary operations such as camera inspections, seen here on a 

TX7+, are done on a TXcell whilst the grinding cycle is in process. 


Installing Cimulator3D on an independent PC further increased 

the productivity of the TXcell by enabling the operator to 

design and develop new tool shapes without having to use 

the tool grinder to experiment and test. This means the TXcell 

is available for production for longer periods of time, and 

expensive tool material is not wasted on unnecessary trials. 

The future 

Exactly what will it be? The only thing known for sure is that the 

future will not be the same as the present, and that successful 

tool manufacturers will need to be ready for whatever shape 

the industry will take. ANCA’s TXcell and the blanket grinding 

process are the first step in ensuring the operators can adapt 

quickly without having the capital expense of changing 

sequential production lines to match the new customer 

requirements. With that in their pockets, change will bring 

opportunity rather than restructure.s 

The Fanuc robot is programmed to change both the tool and the 

wheel pack, increasing productivity and lowering down-time.

HOW TO RuN A 

Grinding Test 

Often, the full potential of grinding wheels is not completely 

utilised. The recommended systematic approach is structured 

into six process steps: objective, preparation, run, evaluate, 

record and publish. 

Objective 

First, be clear what you or others want to achieve. Some 

objectives may be in conflict with each other: 

• Fixing an existing problem (burning, surface finish, 

dimensional stability) 

• Better process economy such as longer wheel life 

• High material removal rates, i.e. shorter cycle times 

• New specification to be tested 

• More reproducible results 

Preparation 

Make yourself familiar with the key issues and record them: 

• Material removal rate Q’ w or Q-prime 

• Wheel speed v c 

• Feed-rate vw • Total amount of grinding allowance and depth of cut ae 

and number of cuts 

• Dressing parameters such as speed ratio q s , infeed, 

synchronous or asynchronous dress 

Ask the operator about the main problems that may have been 

encountered: 

• Does or did the wheel lose form? 

• Did you experience burning or chatter? 

• Is the process stable? 

• How does the coolant supply behave? Is it the same over a 

full shift? 

• Is the fixturing rigid? Do vibrations occur? 

• Can you maintain dimensional stability? 

Run 

If the existing parameters for a given wheel are reasonable, 

repeat those parameters with a new wheel specification and 

compare results. 

To establish the feed-rate v , use the specific material rate Q’ w w 

Q = (a × v ) 

w e w 

60 

• Creep-feed grinding hardened steel: 5 to 10 mm/mm/s 

• Creep-feed-grinding aerospace nickel alloys: 10 to 20 mm 3 / 

mm/s 

• Flute grinding of taps with resin bonded wheels: 10 to 20 

mm 3 /mm/s 

• Flute grinding solid carbide mills: 6 to 12 mm 3 /mm/s 

These values depend on the stiffness of the machine tool, the 

fixturing of the workpiece, etcetera. 

Evaluate 

Before making too many changes to any given process, run it 

for a while. Good engineering is to change only one parameter 

at a time, observe changes, evaluate and then make changes. 

Measure components for dimensional accuracy, burr formation 

and grinding abuse (burning). Loss of form, for example, 

indicates one or several of the following things: 

• The wheel is too soft 

• Surface speed is too low (increase by steps of 3 to 5 m/s) 

• Feed-rates are too high 

• Amount of dressing is insufficient 

• The grit size is too coarse 

EXPERT ADVICE 

Walter Graf of Winterthur Technology Group shares some expert advice on the tricky subject of 

running grinding tests. 

• Did the process result in burning? 

Check coolant delivery. Is nozzle in right position? The surface 

speed v may be too high; try to reduce it by 3 to 5 m/s. You 

c 

may increase the feed-rate to increase self-sharpening of wheel 

by using 10% steps. 

Record 

Create your own spread-sheet listing all the main parameters. 

publish 

Share your results with your colleagues and build a database 

that will give you faster results next time you have to run a 

similar test.s 

Watch for the full version of Walter’s article in an upcoming 

edition of ANCA’s E-newsletter The Sharp E. 


GRINDING TECHNoLoGY

SNEAK pEAK 

What’s New in 

CIM3D 

version 7 

ANCA’s Cim3D was the world’s first high 

quality 3D tool simulation software system 

and it’s fair to say it revolutionised the 

industry. Version 7 of this industry benchmark 

package is now available with a range of new 

features to improve usability, enhance tool 

verification abilities, and better analyse the 

grinding process. 

Cim3D is Now Faster 

Version 7 is faster. Optimisation of the 3D calculation engine 

has resulted in more than a 30% average speed improvement in 

simulation time compared to V6. More dramatic performance 

enhancements can be achieved in some cases when using arc 

blank sections, which are now supported in version 7. Due to 

the reduction of material removed when using a pre-formed 

blank compared to a cylindrical blank, calculation time is 

reduced. For certain profile blanks, the time savings can 

be significant. This has two benefits. Not only can complex 

profile tools be simulated in less time, but also the detail of 

the simulation can be increased significantly compared to 

previous versions to provide a more accurate tool model for 

measurement and verification purposes. (The use of arc blank 

sections will be supported within the iGrind blank editor in 

Toolroom RN31.1-1 onwards.) 


2D overlays for Instant visual verification 

The ability to verify geometrical features has been significantly 

extended in Cim3D V7 by providing the ability to import DXF 

overlays (2D CAD outline curves) into the measurement view. 

This can be used to verify various geometrical features of a tool 

such as the tool OD or core profile as well as the flute crosssection 

geometry. The DXF overlay can be conveniently enabled 

or disabled as required, as well as positioned and then locked 

with the tool model. The accuracy of the core and cutting 

profile display in Cim3D has also been improved in V7 so that 

DXF overlays can be accurately compared to these simulated 

profiles. 

From October 2011, ANCA’s next release of the Toolroom 

software suite will provide the added benefit of automatically 

generating and sending the theoretical tool and cross section 

profiles to Cim3D, saving you even more time in the verification 

process. This will be particularly useful for ball-nose, corner 

radius, stepped and profile tools. 

Quicker Setup of Tooling and Accessory Models 

Machine accessory configuration was potentially a 

cumbersome task in previous versions. The new machine 

configuration dialog simplifies the task of setting up 

machine accessories by providing one convenient interface 

to set-up standard machine tooling including tool-holding, 

support systems, and dresser configurations. Accurate 3D 

representation of the grinding process as well as the machine 

set-up allows processes to be optimised and aids in identifying 

potentially costly mechanical crashes. 

A potential collision point on a grinding machine is the tool 

holding. Simulating the grinding process using an accurate 

model of the tool holder ensures that any potential collision is 

detected offline and is often easily rectified rather than causing 

a potentially costly collision. For this reason, DXF files can 

now also be imported into Cim3D to model tool holding. Tool 

holders can typically accommodate various collet or jaw sizes. 

To cater for this, a set of DXF files can be imported with various 

collet or jaw sizes to create a tool holding set. Cim3D can then 

automatically select the model based on shank diameter. 

Apart from importing custom tool-holding geometry, the new 

machine configuration dialog features the ability to easily select 

Over a wide range of tools, Cim3D V7 is 

approximately 30% faster than V6. Support 

for arc sections in blanks has also been added 

which in most cases speeds up simulation 

times further. In the example pictured, the 

same tool simulated in in 52% of the time in V7 

compared to to V6 in a high detail detail mode. When 

the actual radius blank was used, simulation 

time was reduced by almost 80%.

from a library of standard tool-holding 

options. All tool-holding options in the 

library include all available collet sizes 

thereby enabling Cim3D to select the 

appropriate collet based on shank size. 

In total, the standard library consists 

of more than 350 collet and adapter 

combinations. This feature automates 

the selection of the tool-holding model 

which results in more reliable collision 

detection. This saves set-up time, avoids 

mechanical crashes, and enables the 

minimum tool protrude length to be 

determined for optimal tool stability and 

run-out. 

Ultra-accurate Cross Section 

Measurement in Any plane 

Verification of tool geometry often 

involves cross-sectional measurement 

of geometric features. The “sectioning 

plane” feature in Cim3D has historically 

been used to slice the tool to inspect 

cross-sectional features in any plane 

orientation. This feature has been 

significantly enhanced in V7 by replacing 

the approximate positioning technique 

using the mouse with a positioning 

dialog allowing precise positioning of 

the plane. In keeping with the format 

most often used in tool drawings, you 

position the plane by specifying a series 

of translation and rotation movements 

about the plane. This provides the ability 

to dissect the tool with surgical precision 

along any cross-section specified on a 

tool drawing. The cross-section can then 

be accurately measured using the 2D 

cross-section view. In addition, the steps 

taken to position the plane can be saved 

and loaded to repeat measurements on 

similar tools. 

In-Depth Cycle Time Estimation 

Analysis of cycle time within the 

simulation environment allows 

optimisation of grinding moves to 

achieve the goal of maximising machine 

productivity by producing more tools 

per hour. Toolroom RN31 introduced an 

auto-approach move enhancement that 

automatically optimises all approach 

moves between operations so that 

cycle time saving can be automatically 

achieved by simply using Toolroom RN31. 

However, gap minimisation and feedrate 

optimization is an important step to 

achieve an efficient grinding process. 

Cycle time estimation within Cim3D has 

been extended in V7 by breaking down 

total cycle time into contact time, air 

time, gap time and rapid-move time. This 

allows improved analysis of the grinding 

process and the ability to better evaluate 

the effect of feedrate and gap-distance 

changes. 

Quick Width and Angle 

Measurements 

Smaller scale software enhancements 

affecting common tasks are often the 

ones most appreciated by regular users. 

An example of such an enhancement 

in V7 is the simplification of measuring 

between two points in the measurement 

view. The measurement view now 

features a way to set a reference point. 

As the tool is moved in the measurement 

view, the distance and angle from the set 

reference point is displayed on-screen. 

This is useful to precisely measure many 

geometric features such as land widths, 

radii, web thicknesses, etc. 

New Machine and Tooling 

Models 

Other enhancements in Cim3D include 

updates of mechanical models. ANCA’s 

new MX7 machine is now fully supported 

in V7 as well as related accessories 

such as the new MX7 P-Axis. This will 

allow collision detection for customers 

with MX7 machines. The Arobotech 

pad length for the P-Axis is now also 

adjustable via the machine configuration 

dialog for both TX7 and MX7 machines 

as well as the addition of the microadjustable 

pop-up steady and shoes. 

Tailstock models have been added for the 

RX7 and TapX machines. 

The release of Cim3D V7 represents 

another milestone for this industryleading 

software package by providing 

a range of productivity enhancements. 

Continual improvement of our software 

products ensures that our customers 

benefit from the competitive advantage 

of using ANCA solutions. We encourage 

our customers to provide feedback 

and improvement suggestions for 

consideration into future products. All 

feedback is reviewed and can be emailed 

to marketing@anca.com. 

Contact your local ANCA representative 

today to order your copy of Cim3D V7.s 


SoFTWARE

Watching 

the 

Wheels 

Making precision carbide cutters for the aerospace industry 

means that Carbro Corp., Lawndale, CA, must be very responsive 

to large and small orders with very high quality, long-life cutting tools— 

mills, reamers, routers, countersinks, and more. 

The 40-year-old, family-run firm has made 

its reputation on producing high quality 

tools used by companies like Boeing, 

Lockheed and Northrop to machine 

aluminum, stainless steel and honeycomb 

composite material. The shop runs more 

than 40 wheel packs across its 5 ANCA 

grinders, mounting whatever pack is 

needed by any of the machines to fill an 

order in the shortest possible time. 

In most shops, that might get confusing 

and would be time-consuming. 

For example, with grinding and dressing 

cycles, the diamond wheels used by an 

RX7 one month may not have precisely 

the same diameters, face angles, and 

radius weeks later when the GX7 is 

assigned to produce more of the same 

tool. 

The solution for Carbro is ANCA iCheck, a 

collaboration between ANCA and ZOLLeR 

that measures grinding wheels and wheel 

packs, stores the actual wheel data, 

and transfers the data to the grinding 

machines. 

The wheel dimensions are checked on 

the ZOLLER CNC measuring machine 

before use. If required, the wheels are 

dressed, and the wheel pack is checked 

again. That actual data is uploaded, ready 

to use to update tool programs in iGrind 

next time the tool is ordered. Anca iGrind 

takes these measurements and makes 

the necessary adjustments to produce 


the programmed tool. The combination 

of iGrind simulation software with the 

iCheck measuring machine lets Carbro 

work out part programs in full detail 

offline and ahead of time. 

The ANCA machines at Carbro are 

networked to the computer storing the 

actual data, so when a tool is ordered, 

the machine downloads the actual wheel 

data for the pack to be used. That way, 

the first tool out of the machine is very 

close to specifications, according to 

Anders Plano, general manager. 

“The iCheck has allowed us to reduce 

set-up time for each job up to 50%,” 

Anders said. “The precise and reliable 

measurement of the wheel packs off-line 

lets us respond much more quickly to the 

smaller order quantities we are seeing 

and to run on any of our ANCA’s any of 

our thousands of different part numbers. 

Customers get exactly what they need, 

when they need it.”s 

Carbro Corp’s Anders Plano: “The iCheck has allowed us to reduce 

set-up time for each job by 50%.”


23

SoFTWARE TIpS 

Make the Most of Your 

iGrind Suite 

ANCA is renowned the world over for the flexibility of our tool grinding 

software. Here we introduce you to some of our latest software features that 

help you grind exactly what you want. 

Fixed-point Ballnose 

Grinding 

RN31 introduces many enhancements to the ballnose OD and 

ball finish cycle such as the ability to grind an eccentric OD 

and a facet ball in one continuous move. Another important 

development is the introduction of a Fixed Grind Point option. 

This option performs the ballnose OD grinding move as a 5-axis 

move, however it ensures that the same point of the grinding 

wheel is used throughout the move. using the same grinding 

point on the wheel means that variations in the ball profile do 

not occur as a result of using different points about the toroid 

radius of the wheel. using the Fixed Point Grinding method, 

the wheel will wear in one spot only resulting in simpler 

compensations and a more stable grinding process. 

A screen shot of the iGrind RN31 software showing the 

fixed-point ballnose grinding feature. 


Complex parameters 

Toolroom version RN28.1 introduced the concept of complex 

parameters and later releases added this ability to additional 

parameters. A complex parameter is one that you can optionally 

vary along the length it is applied to, instead of being restricted 

to just a constant value. Parameters with this ability have a 

sigma (Σ) symbol next to their input field as shown below. 

Clicking on the Σ symbol displays a dialog box which allows 

complex specification of the parameter (similar to using ANCA’s 

Variable Helix Wizard). For example, instead of a constant 

primary OD land width, this can be specified as: 

• A changing width from EOT to shank 

• A constant width followed by a transition to a different 

width and then constant again 

• Arbitrarily as a spline function. 

The image below shows the primary land width specified as an 

oscillating spline function. The result can be seen on the tool. 

This ability is also available for some of the feedrate parameters 

in fluting cycles which can be useful when grinding complex 

tools.

ANCA’s iGrind suite is a powerful tool, and the more 

operators know about its capabilities they more they 

can get from their grinding machine. 

Comparing Tools in CIM3D 

Cim3D has the ability to compare two tools at the same time. 

The method to do this is: 

1. simulate a tool and then save it as a VRML file. I.e. FILe- 

>SAVE-> VRML File (.WRL) 

2. Make a change to the tool and simulate again. 

3. To compare the old and new tools go to FILE->OPEN and 

open the saved VRML file. 

The two models should be shown side by side in Cim3D. Double 

clicking on the VRML model will display a menu with an “edit 

position” option. This can be used to move the position of the 

model and can even be used to lay one model on top of the 

other to further check for differences. Turning on the Cutting 

edges option and changing colour mapping can also help in 

comparing differences in models. 

Shift a Complete Set of Files 

to Another Machine 

Creating bundle files in RN31 simplifies the process of 

transferring files from one machine or simulator to another. 

Bundle files include the iGrind TOM file, wheel packs, dressing 

files, and any other file associated with the current tool. The 

Create Bundle option can be found under the FILe menu in 

RN31 within iGrind. Once transferred to a machine, the files are 

easily installed by using the Install Bundle option (from the FILe 

menu). To minimize the size of bundle files when transferring 

them to other machines or simulators, deselect the option to 

include debug files. 

Monitor Your productivity 

Monitoring machine productivity and utilisation is the first step 

towards optimising production. small improvements to set-up 

and cycle times can equate to significant long term productivity 

gains, allowing your machine to produce more parts per hour. 

A simple way to monitor productivity is to use the Production 

Data utility. This handy utility can be found under uTIL (F11) on 

the ANCA sidebar menu. The Production Data utility provides an 

easy way to monitor setup and cycle times which can then be 

used to collect information regarding productivity versus batch 

sizes. 


SoFTWARE

Typically, the Production Data utility 

would be zeroed upon commencing 

set-up for a particular job. The Total Time 

counter monitors the time since zeroing, 

whereas the Operating Time counter 

monitors the time the machine is incycle. 

From this information, a machine 

utilisation percentage is calculated as 

well as the number of tools produced per 

hour relative to total and operating time. 

Apart from information gathering and 

analysis, the utility can be used to set 

and monitor daily production goals. 

Monitor Your 

Spindle Load 

Analysing spindle load during grinding 

can be used to optimise and improve 

various aspects of the process. The 

Tool Grind Page (TGP) provides a visual 

gauge to view the current spindle load, 

however, in many cases it is useful to 

chart the history of the spindle load to 

see how it changes over time. This can be 

easily achieved using the Chart Recorder 

application. This utility can be accessed 

via the icon on the top right hand corner 

of the TGP. 

The Chart Recorder application provides 

a convenient way to visually monitor 

spindle load over time. The update speed 

as well as the scale of the graph can be 

adjusted and the results logged to a file 

for further analysis. 

Flute grinding provides a good example 

of where spindle load can provide 

important feedback regarding process 

setup. The figure below shows a fluting 

process for a four flute Hss tool with 

three passes per flute. In this example it 

can be seen in the image on the left that 

maximum spindle load is obtained in 

the second set of passes. This generally 

may not represent an ideal process. The 

image on the right shows an optimised 


Constantly monitoring your grinder’s productivity 

enables you to make small adjustments that can 

equate to more parts per hour. 

process with the desired decreasing load 

characteristics for this process. 

Apart from infeed adjustment, the Chart 

Recorder can show if spindle load is 

increasing over a batch of tools for a 

given tool grinding operation. This may 

provide important information regarding 

ideal wheel white-sticking or dressing 

intervals. 

Advanced Tip: The Chart Recorder 

monitors spindle load by default. 

However, changing the logged variable 

from XILF17 to XILF31 in the “configure” 

dialog will allow logging of spindle 

temperature for machines fitted with this 

option. 

Monitoring the spindle load during grinding can be used 

to optimise and improve the process. iGrind’s Tool Grind 

Page (TGP) provides a visual method of seeing how the 

load changes over time.

iGrind RN31 contains a simple method of scaling tools to 

create the same tool in a different diameter. 

Scale your Tools 

to Minimise 

programming 

Time 

Cutting tools are typically created as a 

series consisting of different diameters. 

Geometry between tool diameters in 

a given series is generally very similar, 

with smaller tools being a scaled-down 

version of larger tools. 

As of Toolroom RN31, iGrind features 

an option to automatically scale tools 

to different diameters. For example, a 

10mm tool file can be scaled down to 

an 8mm tool file very easily using the 

Scale Tool feature, found under the 

iGrind TOOL menu. Simply click on the 

menu option and enter in the new tool 

diameter. iGrind will then apply default 

behaviour to scale the tool as required. 

For custom scaling behaviour, an 

advanced feature exists under the 

utilities -> scripting -> Write scaled script 

from current Tool iGrind menu option. 

This option allows a script to be created 

where the scaling for each parameter can 

be defined in simple scripting language. 

Either simple linear scaling or more 

complicated behaviour can be specified. 

The created script can then later be 

executed to create any size diameter 

tool. 

Advanced Tip: The tool parameters 

scaled by the default scaling option 

under the Tools menu are specified in 

the p:/toolroom/tcg/tga/autoscale.txt 

file. This file can be copied to a directory 

named p:/toolroom/misc/tga and 

modified to customise the parameters 

which are scaled. 

Wheel Wear 

Compensation 

All grinding wheels wear during use. The 

effect of wheel wear on the finished tool 

can be negligible, but as batch and tool 

size increases, the effect of wheel wear 

can become significant. 

As of Toolroom release RN30, iGrind 

features an option to automatically 

adjust the grinding wheel by known 

wheel wear rates. The feature is accessed 

via the TOOL menu. By knowing the 

approximate wheel wear rate for a given 

process in terms of wear per number 

of tools, this can be specified for each 

wheel. This can be particularly useful to 

negate the effect of wheel wear when 

grinding large batches of tools.s 

The wheel wear compensation function in iGrind is accessed via 

the TOOL menu. 


SoFTWARE

CNC Data 

ANCA 5DX, Core 2 Duo min., 1 GB RAM, 15” touch screen, DVD RW, usB connectivity 


technical 

specifications 

Mechanical Axes 

X-axis Y-axis Z-axis A-axis C-axis p-axis 

Position Feedback Resolution 0.0001 mm 0.0001 mm 0.0001 mm 0.0001 mm 0.0001 deg 0.0001 deg 

0.0000039” 0.0000039” 0.0000039” 0.0000039” 

Programming Resolution 0.001 mm 0.001 mm 0.001 mm 0.001 mm 0.001 deg 0.001 deg 

0.000039” 0.000039” 0.000039” 0.000039” 

Software Axes: (patented) B, V, u, W 

Workpiece: Diameter 300 mm (12”) max., length for OD and end-face grinding 400 mm (16”) max, weight 25 kg (55 lbs) max* 

Drive System: ANCA Digital (Sercos standard). Direct drive on linear and rotary axes 

Machine Data 

Grinding Spindle: ANCA direct drive 37 kW (49 HP) induction motor; 10, 000 RPM standard (15,000 RPM optional) 

Wheel Arbor: BigPlus BT 40 Taper 

Electrical Power: 25 kVA 

Probe System: Renishaw 

Base Material: ANCAcrete polymer concrete 

Colour: RAL 7035 / RAL 5014 

Cell Data 

Robot: Fanuc M20i/A 

Power: 3 kVA 

Wheel Changer: standard nine wheel packs expandable up to 24. up to four wheels per pack, 15s change time 

Wheel Diameter: up to 300 mm on selected wheel pack stations 

Tool Loading: standard two pallets, expandable up to four, tool dia. range 3-32 mm, max. tool length 325mm, 15s change time 

*Depending upon tool set-up 

Large Floor Plan Small Floor Plan 

Height: 2230 mm [87.8”] 

Weight: 10 000 kg [22 000 lbs]

ANCA global 

Asia Pacific 

ANCA Pty Ltd, Melbourne Australia +61 3 9751 8200 

ANCA Machine Tool (Shanghai) Co. Ltd Shanghai China +86 21 5868 2940 

ANCA India Bangalore India +91 80 4219 8107 

ANCA Japan Nagoya Japan +81 561 53 8543 

ANCA Thailand Ltd Rayong Thailand +66 3 895 9252 

ANCA Motion Taichung Taiwan +886 4 2336 4386 

Sahamit Machinery Bangkok Thailand +66 2 295 1000 

CKB Hiroshima Japan +81 82 227 3211 

Nagoya Japan +81 52 776 4832 

Osaka Japan +81 6 6442 3270 

Tokyo Japan +81 3 3498 2131 

Allied Chase Shanghai China +86 21 6284 2166 

Leeport (Holdings) Limited Hong Kong China +852 2427 7991 

SH International Seoul South Korea +82 3 1777 3130 

Europe 

ANCA GmbH Mannheim Germany +49 621 338 100 

ANCA Italia Vicenza Italy +39 0444 341 642 

ANCA (UK) Ltd Coventry United Kingdom +44 24 7644 7000 

Karel Redig – ANCA Edegem Belgium +32 3448 4165 

Christophe Chaumet – ANCA Meximeux France +33 675 186 395 

Slawek Antoszczyk – ANCA Wielkie Drogi Poland +48 668 150 552 

Springmann Austria GmbH Feldkirch Austria +43 5522 70960 

ALBA Precision sro Brno Czech Republic +420 548 214 098 

KR Trading Juelsminde Denmark +45 75 69 01 35 

Soumen Hiontakone OY Mikkeli Finland +358 40 5055 159 

Tek Team Ltd Yehud Israel +972 3 632 3576 

Ravema AS Oslo Norway +47 66 85 90 10 

MAVIS VS Impex srl Bucaresti Romania +40 311 046 636 

ZAO Rosmark Steel St. Petersburg Russia +7 812 336 2727 

ALBA Precision sro Banska Bystrica Slovakia +421 48 414 8627 

Grupo Delteco Eibar Spain +34 943 70 70 07 

Ravema AB Varnamo Sweden +46 370 488 00 

Springmann SA/AG Neuchatel Switzerland +41 32 791 1122 

Niederburen Switzerland +41 71 424 2600 

Tool Man SARL (French region) Veyrier-Geneve Switzerland +41 22 890 0405 

CNC İleri Teknoloji ve Tic. Ltd. Şti Istanbul Turkey +90 212 786 6200 

North America 

ANCA Inc. Wixom, MI USA +1 248 926 4466 

ALTA Enterprises Center Valley, PA USA +1 610 866 8866 

Beckman Precision Inc. Greer, SC USA +1 864 801 8181 

Earth Falcon Lauderdale-by-the-sea, FL USA +1 945 202 9090 

Grinding Solutions San Pedro Garza Mexico +81 1776 5851 

Innovative Machine Solutions Inc. Watertown, WI USA +1 414 333 1343 

Machine Tool Marketing Inc. Tulsa, OK USA +1 918 369 7065 

Machines & Methods Inc. Bellevue, WA USA +1 425 746 1656 

Beaverton, OR USA +1 503 617 1992 

Magnum Precision Machines, Inc. Albuquerque, NM USA +1 505 345 8389 

Metalworking Technologies Limited Arlington Heights, IL USA +1 847 818 5800 

Modern Tools Inc. Stoneham, MA USA +1 781 438 3211 

Productivity Inc. Minneapolis, MN USA +1 763 476 8600 

Cedar Rapids, IA USA +1 319 632 4288 

Omaha, NE USA +1 402 330 2323 

Shenk Machinery Menlo Park, CA USA +1 650 766 7264 

Smith Industrial Machine Sales Rochester, NY USA +1 585 738 8323 

Smith Machinery Salt Lake City, UT USA +1 801 263 6403 

SMS Machine Tools Rexdale, Ontario Canada +1 416 675 7300 

Tornquist Machinery City of Industry, CA USA +1 714 572 6830 

Phoenix, AZ USA +1 602 470 0334 

Triad Machine Tool Co. Wheat Ridge, CA USA +1 303 424 0268 

South America 

ANCA do Brasil São Paulo Brasil +55 15 3221 5512

Issue Eight 2011 - Anca

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?