Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 7

37 The first step is to evaluate if your particular situation can be corrected using Automatic Grinding Technology? Automatic Grinding can help you if your issues include staffing issues such as absenteeism, workplace injuries, failed drug tests, employee retention, government enforced work environment rules, production needs, quality/ consistency or just finding people. If any of these issues are causing your pain, then you should proceed with your Automatic Grinding 12 step program. The second step is recognizing that the type of metal you need to grind determines the type of grinding machine and tools that are necessary. If your foundry pours iron or brass/bronze, then a machine with diamond tools is your preferred option. If steel or a high chrome product is involved, then a machine with conventional resin based tools and an automatic wheel dressing system will be necessary. If your castings are aluminum, then a machine with carbide tools will be required for this application. Step three is identifying the weight range and physical dimensions of about 60-80% of your casting production, or of the castings that are plugging up the flow of your cleaning room. In order to choose the proper size machine you need to know the size range of the bulk of your casting production or the castings that are requiring the most time in the cleaning room. Most foundries find that if they can put 60-80% of their castings into Automatic Grinding they can eliminate most of their cleaning room problems. When there are particular castings taking an inordinate amount of cleaning room time, you can size a machine to handle these castings and it will also be able to do handle many of your other castings. Step four involves the determination of which type of grinding solution is best suited to your needs. Does a CNC solution or a robotic solution work best for your operation? If the casting is small and the grinding areas are primarily the parting line, then it is probably more suited for a robotic solution where the robot picks up the part and takes it to the grinding tool. If the casting is larger and the grinding is more complex, it is a candidate for a robot that brings the tools to the casting positioned in a fixture. If the casting is medium to large and there are large risers and gates to remove, it is probably more beneficial to use a CNC unit. If your casting needs a great deal of easily accessible grinding, including risers, it is more suited for the CNC solution. If the required grinding involves areas that require the flexibility of a man’s hand, then it is more suited to the robotic solution. In many cases a CNC can get 70- 90% of the areas needed to be ground and the operator can clean up the other areas while waiting on the machine to grind the next part. The robotic solution is usually capable of grinding 100% of the casting. Step five involves assessing the level of internal expertise that you currently have at your foundry. If you have internal expertise in CNC equipment, but not in robotics, then you are probably wise to at least start out with a CNC machine. Most foundries have personnel with experience using CNC equipment. You want to be successful with your first attempt at Automatic Grinding and having some familiarity with the process helps immensely. If you have used robots before and you have personnel capable of performing maintenance and programming a robot, then it could be beneficial to use a robotic solution. Continued on page 38