Unique External Superabrasive Wheels Are Delivering Lower Cost Per Part

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI — A growing number of new external/OD grinding machine systems are being designed to take advantage of superabrasives. Meister Abrasives USA, well known for its expertise in internal bore grinding, has also developed a line of external abrasive products in parallel with this trend to maximize grinding performance and minimize costs.

Bruce Northrup, General Manager of Meister Abrasives USA said that his company's early focus on mall internal grinding wheels made it necessary for the company to pay very close attention to the onsistency and quality of superabrasive materials and bonding system performance. Even small ariations in these attributes show up quickly in internal grinding because the life of a small wheel is relatively short to begin with. Now that this expertise has been transferred to large wheels, users are experiencing quantifiable cost/performance advantages not only versus conventional wheels but also competitive superabrasive products. Users are reporting cycles up to 20% faster and/or cost per part reductions up to 30%.

Meister external wheels are customized for each application relying heavily on the company's proven design expertise; exceptionally consistent, top shelf raw materials; and state-of-the-art bonding technologies, including its newest high-performance bond, HPB. As a result, these wheels deliver the long wheel life, consistent wheel to wheel performance, and low cost per manufactured part comparable to the company's internationally respected line of internal grinding wheels. Furthermore, wheel specifications can be tuned to provide ultra-consistent high volume manufacturing or the versatility that allows smaller shops to use a single wheel on a number of different applications. The Meister external line includes vitrified CBN and diamond wheels from Ø100mm(4') to Ø700mm(28') and lapping/fine-grinding plates up to Ø1220mm(48'), most of which are manufactured in its state-of-theart production facility in Rhode Island to provide competitive pricing and delivery.

Applications supported include O.D. cylindrical, creep feed, surface, double disk, wafer backgrinding, as well as fine grinding and lapping. The most active markets for these products include the medical, aerospace, semiconductor, optical, tool & die, and automotive industries.

Meister also supplies a line of ancillary products including dressing tools, cups, and discs.