As we all know, nerds (that is, software and IT experts) supposedly enjoy spending all their time alone in the dark, not unlike deep-sea anglerfish, who hang out at depths of at least 300 meters below the sea. The above photo clearly debunks this myth – at least when it comes to the software experts at Haas Schleifmaschinen. As you can see, Jens Schneider and Thomas Wacker enjoy working in the bright lights of our production hall. Here, they’re using a new module of our grinding software Multigrind^® Horizon to make tiny, delicate turbine bladesout of Inconel.

And if those smiles are anything to go by, it’s working really well. I’ve been told that the module’s effectiveness is due in no small part to NURBS (non-uniform rational B-splines). NURBS are mathematical formulas, which, put simply, can be used to display selected surfaces with relatively few check points. Thanks to NURBS, our new grinding software can process free-form surfaces (like those required for turbine blades) directly using data from 3D CAD systems. These kind of surfaces can be ground to the exact micrometer, like the boys are doing here on the Multigrind^® CA.

It not only looks great, it also delivers nice, homogeneous surfaces – the “Ilmentritschel” is a belt grinder unit only available from Haas Schleifmaschinen. And of course, it’s controlled using our grinding software. Especially our most demanding customers from the medical engineering and aerospace industries are fans of the “Ilmentritschel”.