Smiths Machine has added advanced grinding technology to its array of state-of-the-art machines.

The ELB-America BD 10 STC Grinder offers both manual grinding as well as fully automated grinding cycles for mass production.

The BD 10 STC features automatic sequence control for roughing, finishing and sparking out. It allows for multiple plunge cuts, surface grinding with continuous infinitely adjustable cross feed speed.

New technology allows the Grinder to automatically compensate the dressing amount and the wheel wear. Stop of in-feed when reaching required dimension, adjustable spark out strokes for roughing and finishing.

With its microgranite base provides a ridge and stable base for ultra precision.

Smiths CFO Tim Smith says the addition of the precision grinder further enhances the company’s capabilities.

“Smiths Machine is committed to maintaining the latest and best technologies across a broad array of capabilities. The addition of this particular machine provides us with precisely that with regard to precision grinding,” Mr. Smith said.

Smiths Machine is currently installing a new DMG  HSC75 five-axis high speed cutting machine at its newly renovated Plant #1.

The highly sophisticated machine will allow Smiths to service additional high tech markets and represents a significant expansion of its high-tech machining capability.

Smiths Vice President Tim Smith said the HSC75 is renown throughout the industry.

“We are excited about adding this additional capacity and the ability it provides us to machine at higher speeds while maintaining the highest accuracy,” Smith said.

The HSC75 adds a long list of DMG products at the two Smiths Machine plants.

While manufacturing a key component for the Army’s CROWS II remotely operated weapons system, Smiths Machine found itself in need of a grooving tool that would meet several important criteria. It found what it was looking for, and more, with PH Horn.

Smiths Machine’s Robert Taber explains: “We were running a slower tool that didn’t last long at all. So, we needed better tool life, but we also wanted better surface finish and reduced cycle time. With PH Horn we found all of that and more,” Taber said.

Tooling Specialist Wade Oglesby was one of the Smiths team members tasked with finding the solution.

“We tried a number of other options. High speed steel, and offerings from other vendors, but the PH Horn was ideally suited to our needs. For one thing, the time required to change the inserts was reduced dramatically. You can do it while the machine is running. Pull the insert and change it while the machine is still running, instead of remeasuring the tool,” Oglesby said.

And, as Group Leader Jeremy Seeley points out, PH Horn’s grooving tool offered higher spindle speeds.

“We found you could definitely crank up the spindle speed. 10,000 rpm is the maximum, which was a three-fold increase over the previous tool we were using,” Seeley said.

Another key factor was cost savings.

“We bought the entire system for what we had spent in eight months with the other tool, so you could say that in eight months it paid for itself by not having to change tools every 25 to 30 pieces. Now we get something on the order of 300 or more with the same tool,” Ogelsby said. “And that’s before you factor in that it’s easier and faster with the PH Horn solution.”

Taber said he foresees other PH Horn tools at the two state-of-the-art machine shop and manufacturing facilities Smiths operates.

“In the future, when we have grooving needs, PH Horn will be the first one we look at,” he said.

Keith Schaffert, Group Leader for Smiths Machine, has worked with a lot of CMM equipment during his career, and found most of them to be “pretty good.”

But when it came time recently to add a fourth CMM to Smiths in-house stable, there was no question in Schaffert’s mind which one it should be.

“When we saw we needed a new one, we knew it had to be Zeiss,” Schaffert said.

“Of course, Zeiss has a long-standing reputation for quality and consistency. They’ve built quite a reputation. I’d worked with other hardware and software, but when I started with Zeiss and their Calpyso software, I was immediately blown away with the quality. Once I had acclimated myself to it, I realized it surpasses everything else out there,” Schaffert said.

As a state-of-the-art machine shop and manufacturing facility with defense industry contracts, Smiths has a pressing need for equipment that can measure the kind of close tolerances it works within on a daily basis. Working with aluminum, stainless steel, plastic, bronze and cast iron on a daily or weekly basis, Smiths and Schaffert needed a versatile and highly accurate CMM to get the job done, with tolerances that range all the way down to 9 microns. For those of us who don’t work in the micrometer realm, that’s roughly 1/10th the diameter of the average human hair.

“With the kind of work we do, I am quite satisfied with Zeiss and feel there is no need to further explore other options,” Schaffert said.

Another key factor in the selection of Zeiss for the fourth CMM at Smiths: technical support.

“I really have to tout their tech support team. They are top-notch. I’ve called them several times for things that are off the beaten path, to the point I know them on a first-name basis. They are always very gracious. It makes learning the obscure corners of the software a pleasure,” Schaffert said.

A new 5-axis milling machine (shown here) has joined the lineup at Smiths Machine.

Vice President Tim Smith said the DMG 100U duoBLOCK was added to support customer demand.

“This investment in an additional 5-axis equipment represents an expansion of our capabilities and capacity. It also further represents our commitment to the latest, best technology to meet our customer’s needs in every manufacturing category,” Mr. Smith said. “The thermosymmetric construction and high precision allow us to meet the specifications necessary for low tolerance work in a wide variety of applications.”

More information on the DMG 100U is available on the Web.