Loroch Grinding Centre cuts cycle times for KR Saws Ltd
When KR Saws Ltd witnessed increasing customer demand for its circular saw blades, the company visited the MACH 2010 exhibition where Vollmer UK provided the answer with its Loroch K850 Solution circular saw blade grinding centre. Previously operating four CNC profile grinding machines including an ageing Loroch CNC Turbo, KR Saws were witnessing a market place demanding increasing sophisticated solutions. These challenges were compounded by KR Saws diminishing ability to meet capacity because blade production required secondary operations on additional machines.
Prior to the arrival of the Loroch K850, traditional machinery required two machines to produce a finished saw blade. Saw blades would be profile ground on one machine and then transferred to a second machine to complete the final bevelled top geometry. The Loroch K850 has immediately improved production cycle times and tooth geometry accuracy with its ability to grind the teeth and bevels in one set-up.
The arrival of the 5-axis CNC Loroch Solution in September 2010 was the first Loroch K850 installation in the UK and it has proven a revelation to the Midlands based company. As KR Saws Managing Director, Paul Ison comments: "Our strategy of providing high quality products with unrivalled technical support and service is heavily dependent upon our production capabilities and capacity. The Loroch K850 acquisition has solved issues, improving our accuracy and repeatability and providing the technical team with the ability to offer a more diverse range of bespoke solutions."
KR Saws are manufacturing HSS, Carbide and Coated Carbide circular sawblades for steel, stainless steel and steel tube manufacturers as well as stockholders with prestigious customers such as Tata, Caparo, Marcegaglia and Benteler. KR Saws know that they have to continually evolve its products to deliver productivity gains for end users. To this end, the 5-axis Loroch has a CAD facility on the machine that enables the design of any tooth form or geometry at the machine, allowing KR Saws to offer solutions specific to each customer application to enhance their productivity. The Loroch K850 Solution also allows KR Saws to store the programs for its blade geometries on the machine. Programs can be efficiently changed from one job to the next. For customers acquiring batches of blades, the Loroch K850 delivers exceptional process repeatability and accuracy guaranteeing grinding and tooth geometry accuracy.
The Loroch K850
The Loroch K850 Solution is a CNC controlled sharpening machine for CBN abrasive grinding. By providing a high-tech solution for re-sharpening, re-toothing and chamfering of HSS metal cutting circular saw blades, the solution K850 is the fully automatic, CNC controlled saw sharpening machine for the complete processing of metal circular saw blades for tooth shapes A, B, BW and C according DIN 1837 – DIN 1840. The Loroch K850 will accept a saw blade diameter range of 40 – 850 mm and special tooth shapes such as the solid carbide tooth or friction tooth can also be ground.
The Loroch KSC710
Mr Ison continues: "The Loroch K850 Solution has been an exceptional asset for our business. It has been such a success that we have now ordered another machine from Vollmer, a Loroch KSC710 grinding centre. The new addition is a fully automatic CNC grinding centre with an automated handling system for sharpening, re-toothing and chamfering our metal cutting circular saw blades."
Like the previous Loroch acquisition; KR Saws reviewed the marketplace and realised that there wasn't anything else capable of meeting the productivity, accuracy or technical competence of Vollmer. The new machine is dedicated to automation with 3 saw blade stacks with a 230mm height. Two stacks can accommodate up to 40 blades each of varying diameter, tooth geometry, pitch and bore. Despite this potential culmination of blades, the machine will automatically generate the correct program for each blade as and when it is required. This will allow KR Saws to stack a machine in the evening with a variety of new blades or re-grinds and have the finished products ready for delivery the next day. Additionally, the new CNC acquisition will complete the blades with no requirement for secondary operations as it has a chip breaker grinding facility incorporated. This will further improve productivity, accuracy, repeatability and overall process control.
For any enquiry, technical advice, to place an order for bandsaw and circular saw blades or to use KR Saws expert saw blade sharpening and repair service simply call us today on 024 7661 0907 or send a Fax: 024 7661 0706 or email: sales@krsaws.co.uk for more information.