So far, anyone who produces high-precision profiled cutting plates in a contemporary manner will dress their diamond pointed profile grinding wheels at short intervals. This means that the diamond grinding wheels are always sharpened exactly in the shape of their true-to-profile geometric shape. The more often dressing is carried out, the more precise and continuous the results become in terms of dimensional accuracy and surface quality. The XING dressing process from Haas Schleifmaschinen has established itself as a high-tech standard. Complex contours can be produced in a fully automated, verifiable process, from special plates to small series to large series production even of multiple different part codes in automatic loading cycles.

So much for the status quo. This status is, of course, constantly being reconsidered by the Haas developers: How can precision in production be optimized while saving valuable production time?

"Yes, a little something is always possible," reveals Thomas Bader, Managing Director of Haas Schleifmaschinen in Trossingen with a smile. He knows that with a closer look, the “a little something” turns out to be a real leap in development. With a new combinable process technology, Haas Schleifmaschinen has pushed the previous limits with regard to dimensional accuracy, surface quality and production speed - exactly as the manufacturers of profiled inserts would like and desire.

Thomas Bader explains: “The constant cost pressure forces our customers to realize new savings potential. That is why we took another close look at our production process for profiled inserts and found that anyone who wanted to manufacture high-precision workpieces would actually have to dress the grinding wheel permanently. This takes time, causes additional wear on the dressing roll and grinding wheel and leads to a loss of quality between the dressing processes. Only permanent dressing would ensure continuous quality, but it is not profitable.”

Therefore the developers from Trossingen have thought about the following: How can we compensate for the change of the diamond grinding wheel during the production process? How can we produce a large number of workpieces with maximum dimensional accuracy and surface quality without frequent dressing?

Haas Schleifmaschinen's new production process uses the diamond grinding wheel in a long cycle and permanently adjusts production-related deviations during the manufacturing process. Haas continuously measures the geometry of the grinding wheel during the grinding process based on the grinding result on the workpiece. By means of contour compensation measurement on the workpiece, the software adjusts itself precisely to the permanent changes. The measurements are carried out fully automatically, contact-free and with high precision with a reproducible accuracy of +/- 2µm. An integrated CNC measuring machine automatically transfers the data to the Multigrind® Horizon software in the sense of a closed loop and processes them extremely quickly. Another factor should not remain unmentioned: The fast programming with built-in collision check helps to save a lot of time, especially with very complex profile tools.

With Multigrind® Horizon software, Haas Schleifmaschinen customers are able to define, simulate and easily apply a wide variety of contour and clearance angle configurations. The constantly changing geometry of our diamond grinding wheel is no longer an obstacle. The 5-axis Multigrind® grinding machine can be adjusted so precisely with the help of the control software that continuous peak values in dimensional accuracy be achieved. Any inaccuracies caused by grinding wheel wear are fully compensated by the software.

Producing profile inserts even more economically in the future.

In addition to the increase in precision, Haas Schleifmaschinen customers will be pleased to hear about two significant effects in terms of future savings potential.

Effect 1: Frequent dressing is no longer necessary, the geometry of the diamond grinding wheel is only renewed by XING Dressing when it can no longer meet the required quality on the workpiece. Depending on the workpiece, a considerable number of dressing processes can be saved in a production batch.  

Effect 2: The service life of the valuable diamond point profile wheels of type 14EE1 is significantly extended, as we can now continue to produce with the permanently geometrically changing abrasive.

Product tests for this new process at Haas in Trossingen have been successfully completed. The high-performance production unit consists of a Multigrind® CU, a precision measuring machine and an automation unit. First contacts with interested manufacturers of profiled sheets will show: The customers of Haas Schleifmaschinen will in future be able to realize valuable savings potentials in the production of profile inserts in the simplest possible way. With this, Haas Schleifmaschinen once again impressively confirms its innovative strength and how quickly the company counters / meets the challenges on the market with real solutions. 

And the following applies to all “grinding applications and cutting tools": The new process also works just as smoothly with all other workpieces, such as rotationally symmetrical tools or profile rollers.