Discover the possibilities of continuous generating gear grinding.

Continuous generating gear grinding is one of the most demanding grinding applications in the automotive and aerospace industries. To improve gear efficiency, gear life, and noise levels, gear profile tolerances and surface finish requirements are becoming more stringent. This is especially true for electric vehicle (EV) gears, which typically require lower noise characteristics than traditional automotive gears. These new quality requirements must be maintained without sacrificing cycle time, and without inducing grinding burn. One of the biggest factors to achieving these goals is a grinding wheel capable of producing low grinding force and low grinding temperatures, while minimizing the wear of the grinding wheel. The toughness and sharpness of the abrasive, porosity, and strength of the bond, and interaction between the bond and workpiece are key. A new vitrified wheel matrix has been developed specifically for gear grinding, significantly reducing the friction generated between the bond and the workpiece while maintaining superior form holding at high removal rates. This new bond paired with the newest ceramic abrasive results in a free cutting grinding wheel that exceeds all the requirements necessary to create quiet and long-lasting gears.

Spencer Artz is a Norton/Saint-Gobain Abrasives grinding application engineer with eight years of experience in high-precision automotive grinding applications including camshaft, crankshaft, continuous variable transmission, and gear grinding.

About the company We offer powerful, precise and user-friendly solutions for every market and for every step of the abrasives process, enabling our customers to cut, shape and finish all materials in the most complex and challenging applications. By working closely with end-users and grinding expert partners, we design and provide customized solutions to secure the best option for performance, cost, and safety. With more than 130 years of experience and more than 10,000 passionate employees, we are proud to serve our customers through our network of 60 facilities, in almost 30 countries across all continents.

The new free eBook covers types of bearings and bearing maintenance.

Emerson Bearing, a Boston, MA-based bearing company catering to niche markets nationwide and the sister company of Action Bearing which serves the New England market, recently announced the availability of a complimentary eBook for machine tool applications.

Emerson Bearing’s latest free resource entitled, “Bearing Solutions for Machine Tool Applications” covers types of bearings used in this industry, common applications, and how to maintain proper care and lubrication.

Today’s machine tools rely on various specialized components to operate smoothly and efficiently while holding tight tolerances. Specific machine tool bearing applications include machining centers, automatic screw machines, grinding machines, high speed spindles, rotary tables, water jet machines, and more.

Machine tool bearings are designed with distinct geometries, features, and materials that make them suitable for specific machining purposes. Anticipated load pressure, temperature fluctuations, exposure to chemicals, and other factors influence the type of bearing best suited for a particular application. Ball and roller bearings are among the most versatile bearing types and are used in everything from turbine engines to medical equipment.

According to Steve Katz, president of Emerson Bearing and Action Bearing, "This comprehensive guide will help to provide a better understanding of the various bearing types and how each will respond to specific operating conditions. It also covers how to maximize the life and performance of your machine tool and its components with proper maintenance, regular inspection and lubrication.”

Learn how to improve workingholding efficiency.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the pressure it’s placed on supply chains, hiring needs, and skills training only exacerbated the inherent inefficiencies of existing approaches to workholding. Current workholding processes involve single-application aluminum soft jaws, introducing resource challenges, and requiring a significant amount of time, skill, and raw material before a single part is milled. Re-thinking traditional soft jaw processes to focus on adaptable solutions eliminates entire steps from an existing process, simplifying workflow and curtailing the time, effort, and cost expended in traditional workholding. In this presentation, you’ll learn how ground-breaking innovations in the CNC machining workflow have a huge impact on several pain points in the industry. Furthermore, you’ll see how allowing lean in-house manufacturing operations and limiting vulnerability to supply chain disruptions will ultimately save your operation time and money.

Meet your presenter Rachel Short has been an executive within technical solution companies for more than 15 years. She holds a B.S. in business management from the University of Colorado and is currently the managing director for the Norgren Workholding division of IMI Precision Engineering. Her career focus continues to be in the development of solutions for customers that’ll positively impact the success of their business. Rachel is a native of Colorado and in her spare time she enjoys waterskiing.

About the company Norgren is part of global engineering organization IMI plc. IMI is at the forefront of delivering the solutions we need in a changing world and is focused on creating tremendous value by solving key industry problems in attractive markets. Norgren has a proud history of creating innovative engineering solutions in precise motion control and fluid technology, and we collaborate with our customers across more than 50 countries in critical areas such as factory automation, material handling, rail, energy, process control, life science and commercial vehicles. From improving speed, productivity, reliability, and efficiency of equipment, to generating significant energy and cost savings, Norgren’s high-quality solutions are designed to help customers pursue progress, achieve new goals, and overcome problems. We offer the capability, resources, engineering intelligence, and global support infrastructure to tackle the largest project demands.

KEDCO’s studio is designed to develop startup companies to advance existing technology and manufacturing.

The Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. (KEDCO) announced the launch of a Medical Technology Accelerator Studio, which will develop a pipeline of MedTech startup companies to complement and advance existing product development and manufacturing capabilities in Warsaw, the Orthopedic Capital of the World.

"We want our community to be known for how it supports entrepreneurs. We already have a strong foundation, with thriving businesses both large and small, and by establishing this pathway for innovation in our own backyard to support Kosciusko County and area businesses, we’re planting seeds to benefit our area for decades to come," said KEDCO CEO Alan Tio.

The community is capitalizing on its resources to facilitate future innovation through a partnership between KEDCO and NEXT Studios, a group of startup founders who’ve developed accelerator studio-model programs in markets and industries throughout the state. The program launch is supported by funding from the Don Wood Foundation and Kosciusko County.

"This unique program will help to ensure that we continue to cultivate new innovations, startup companies, and new opportunities in our community," said Kosciusko County Commissioner Cary Groninger.

The MedTech Studio is the first of its kind in the area. KEDCO will kick off the program with several events, including a "Now What’s Next?" information session on July 21 in Warsaw followed by a series of events facilitated by NEXT Studios including:

The events will be repeated with participating companies and startups to build capability within the local teams to continue programs in the future.

"More than 80% of all new jobs originate from companies under five years old," says John McDonald, managing entrepreneur with NEXT Studios. "Building a supportive ecosystem to facilitate entrepreneurship is key to long-term sustainability. And KEDCO is leveraging its resources to engage its community and its workforce to build amazing things to come."

Meeting space for the program will be available to companies in Downtown Warsaw, with support from MED Institute for equipment and technology needs for the space.

Discover the use of robotics in relation to gauging.

This session provides attendees with an overview of how to automate quality inspection and dimensional gaging with collaborative robots. We’ll provide best practices for getting started with automation, particularly for small-medium manufacturers that have limited automation experience. Learning objectives for this session include:

• Getting started with quality control (QC) automation • Best practices for implementing collaborative robots in a quality department • Robot video demonstrations with automated gaging • Automation with existing shop floor gage • Building a business case and return on investment for implementing automated inspection tools • Industry trends in automation

Stefan Friedrich joined New Scale Technologies in 2016 in sales of precision micro-mechatronic products, moving to the New Scale Robotics division in 2018. He’s developed partnerships with Universal Robots and gage suppliers to develop New Scale’s product offerings and also standardize automated inspection systems, such as the Q-Span Workstation. He regularly teaches industrial manufacturers how to use collaborative robots with gaging instruments, helping them automate quality tasks and improve productivity.

New Scale Robotics makes do-it-yourself (DIY) automation tools for automated gaging. We are a manufacturer of robotic tools and a systems integrator that specializes in combining robotic part handling, measurements using calipers and other gages, and automated data logging. Our products integrate with small collaborative robots to make automation affordable for small- and mid-sized companies. We solve problems requiring intricate part handling and precision part measurement.