Process innovations: How wire EDM opens up new possibilities in grinding

Chicago, Illinois - Adding wire EDM technology to a precision grinder may seem strange, but this unlikely pairing opens up new opportunities when processing tungsten carbide, ceramic and hardened steel materials. After all, the precision, power and flexibility of wire EDM makes it possible to dress a diamond or CBN grinding wheelwhile on board the machine.

This presentation will explore how wire EDM technology is starting to replace traditional rotary dressing tools, making the use of metal-bonded grinding wheels more efficient and economical. With this “spark erosion” dressing method, there is no mechanical contact between the wire (the dressing tool), the grain and the bond, and no negative effect on the abrasive grain itself.

Presentation talking tracks

• How the new Studer WireDress system uses wire EDM technology to easily dress a metal-bonded grinding wheels while it remains mounted in the grinding machine. 
• How a “spark erosion” dressing method contributes up to 30% more productivity over grinding with resin or ceramic bonded wheels.
• How the Studer WireDress system can generate intricate contours with internal radii of 0.2mm and external radii of 0.05mm.
• How United Grinding is paving the way for improved productivity and profitability in cylindrical grinding with technologies such as Studer WireDress.

About the presenter
Michael Klotz is a project manager development at Studer in Switzerland a company of the United Grinding Group. He manages developments of new processes technologies and grinding systems. Amongst others in cooperation with Universities from basic research to reliable industry products.

After finishing his studies of machine tools development at the Technical University of Chemnitz he managed a development group in machine tools at the Fraunhofer Research Institute IWU.

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