Walter Helicheck Tool Measuring Proves Quality Is Top Priority At Guhring
Chatham, MA — To improve the quality of the products supplied and to make the transition from manual to automatic inspection report generation, Guhring Ltd has installed a new Walter Helicheck Basic optical tool measuring machine from Körber Schleifring UK of Honiley near Kenilworth.
The UK subsidiary of the German cutting tool specialist, Guhring Ltd was founded 34 years ago and has come a long way in the last eight years. Beginning life as a stock centre, the company has progressed into regrinding, tooling manufacture and even coating, and now employs 58 people at its rapidly evolving West Midlands headquarters.
Among the recent capacity installed at the Castle Bromwich site are three Guhring Universal CNC tool and cutter grinders (manufactured by Guhring in Germany) alongside four specialist CNC regrinding centres. Until recently the company measured tools and produced inspection reports manually.
"Three issues were forcing us to consider moving to automatic inspection," explains production manager Chris Weston. "First, as our manufacturing service has evolved, requests for more complex cutting tools have become more frequent and it's a struggle to manually measure cutters such as very short three-flute tools.
"Second, the move to PCD tools demands optical inspection — the material is so brittle that it will chip if touched by a micrometer. And third, the production of automatic inspection reports reflects more accurately the professional nature of our company."
The Helicheck Basic offers 3C Direct View camera technology with cameras for back, front and top light illumination of tools measuring up to 320 mm diameter by 400 mm long. The back light provides magnification of 50x, front and top of 100x; and combined with the solid granite base plate for temperature resistance and high stability, the result is a repeatability of 1.5 micron and an absolute accuracy of +/- 2.2 microns at a measuring length of 10 mm (VDI/VDE 2617: E1 = 2.2 microns + L/300).
Taking the Walter Helicheck Basic and a European-manufactured competitor machine on trial at Guhring in Germany, the company soon concluded that the Walter was not only faster, but it was also easier to program.
Following installation at Castle Bromwich in February 2007, the machine has been set to work measuring a range of carbide special drills and milling cutters (often featuring two or more diameters) largely for the automotive and aerospace sectors.
"The machine performs both 100 percent measurement plus batch inspection," says Chris Weston.
"That's the beauty of this machine; we can just press the start button and walk away. It hasn't missed a beat since it was installed and it has provided our customers with an extra degree of confidence in the quality of our products."
SOURCE: Guhring Ltd