Taking a break from breakdowns

END USER: lllinois Carbide Tool Co. Inc., (800) 323-2414, www.crobaltusa.com, www.brakedrumtool.com.
SOLUTION PROVIDER: Agathon Machine Tools Inc., (203) 730-8741, www.agathon.com.
CHALLENGE: Keep up with increasing production demands for carbide brake lathe inserts.
SOLUTION: A 4-axis grinding machine that enables lights-out production.

More production sometimes requires fewer machines. As orders for its carbide brake lathe inserts increased at least 20 percent during the last 18 months, Illinois Carbide Tool Co. Inc. transitioned from six grinding machines with obsolete technology to a newer CNC grinder and a brand-new CNC grinder, said Mike Mini, company owner and manager.

The Waukegan, Ill., manufacturer has two operating divisions: Brake Drum Tool Co., which produces inserts, tool bodies and cutting tools for the automotive industry, such as cylinder boring tools; and Crobalt, which manufactures a high-cobalt cast alloy used in metalcutting and woodworking tools and wear parts.

Mini explained that automotive repair shops apply the brake lathe inserts to resurface brake drums and rotors. However, the six semiautomatic grinders the company was using to make these inserts were built in the 1980s and were unable to keep up with increasing production demands because they were slow and would consistently break down. Once out of service, the troubleshooting and the search for repair parts would commence. Because of their older technology, it could take up to 3 or 4 weeks to get a grinder back up and running. “There were usually only about four out of the six running at a time,” he said.

Left to right: Mark Wawiorka, operator and technician; Chuck Best, CNC operator and technician; and Dan Quinn, operations manager; discuss setup and operation of Illinois Carbide Tool’s two Agathon grinding machines: a 250 PA-CNC Ultra (foreground) and a Leo Peri. Image courtesy Presage Professional Inc.

Mini added that the person with the most experience operating these grinders could repair about 85 percent of the problems, but obtaining parts was a challenge and not an effective use of company resources. The inserts in these grinders had to be manually loaded and unloaded by the operator into the machine’s single magazine. The operator had to manually dress the grinding wheels, check that a machine was operating properly so an insert’s IC tolerance of ±0.001″ (0.0254mm) was being held while ensuring that the center screw hole was concentric to the insert’s triangular shape.

“One person would be hard-pressed to keep three or four machines running at a time,” Mini said.

“When you have older technology and you’re having problems with a grinder,” he said, “you hate to spend the money for these repairs because you’re throwing good money after bad. You start looking for solutions in the latest grinding technology.”