Contact us today:
(847) 934-4500
tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
Contact us today:
(847) 934-4500
tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
The Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC) is the digital transformation division of the National Association of Manufacturers and, as part of its mission, annually seeks world-class manufacturing companies and key individuals who contribute to the technology. 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of this premier awards program.
On June 5, 2024, various companies and individuals who have made significant contributions to the digital manufacturing transformation in America will be recognized and winners named throughout 9 categories. Among the finalists for the prestigious Engineering and Production Technology award is the ANCA Integrated Manufacturing System (AIMS), a recently developed, fully automated grinding, gauging and materials handling system with workflow monitoring, full tracking and data management capability. It allows shops and production departments to achieve a lights-out manufacturing ecosystem in coordination with company control protocols. ANCA is an acknowledged global leader in this technology.
The ANCA Integrated Manufacturing System (AIMS) offers an open ecosystem that aims to connect, automate and create all steps in the production of cutting tools for a broad spectrum of industrial applications, including automotive, medical, aerospace, electronics and woodworking.
Manufacturing processes controlled by AIMS achieve higher machine utilization while maintaining consistently high tool quality. Thanks to sophisticated tool measurement and compensation strategies, scrap is reduced and costs per tool are significantly lowered. Comprehensive reporting and intelligent insights supported by machine learning provide complete visibility into all aspects of operations.
AIMS is designed as an open system and allows the integration of third-party machines and workstations, plus AGV’s for material transport.
AIMS Connect
Connects all operations that are carried out to manufacture cutting tools. The central AIMS server controls compliance with the processes that a tool passes through during its manufacture. It checks whether the various process steps are being carried out and takes action if the process is not being executed to preset standards. An information system guides employees to carry out manual process steps.
AIMS Automate
Automation of connected operations through the use of robots such as AMR for transfer or cobots for palletizing tools. A self-optimizing job scheduler ensures an ideal supply of pallets to the machines or provides individual tools for measurement.
AIMS Create
Create individual and customized workflow for the tool, based on linked operations. Workflows and processes can be described and stored with ISA-95 compliant recipes. Job orders are transferred to production via the link to recipes and the creation of work requests. Work cells, work units and assets are managed just as easily as grinding programs and grinding wheels. AIMS Create provides the cockpit for creating processes. Thanks to the state-of-the-art web application, this can be done on almost all smart devices and computers.
ANCA president for North America, Russell Riddiford, comments, “ANCA is very proud to be in the running for this award from the MLC. We support the digital transformation effort in both our machine building and motion control operations, as we seek to provide our customers the machines and software needed to move their companies in this exciting new direction, within industries of all kinds.”
The 2024 MLC Awards feature nine categories to recognize company achievements in AI and Machine Learning; Collaborative Ecosystems; Digital Network Connectivity; Digital Supply Chains; Engineering and Production Technology (the category in which AIMS is a finalist); Enterprise Integration and Technology; Operational Excellence; Sustainability and Circular Economy; plus Transformational Business Cultures. Additionally, individuals are entered into the Transformation Leadership and Next-Generation Leadership categories. The finalists represent a cross-section of industries, comprising global multi-nationals and start-up companies. The awards are judged by distinguished individuals from across many industrial sectors.
ANCA is based in Melbourne, Australia with its North American headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, where it operates a full tech center, including machines and training for its customers.
For further information, please contact:
Amanda Bakun
Marketing & Communications Manager – Americas
248-497-1168
amanda.bakun@anca.com
ANCA is a market leading manufacturer of CNC grinding machines. It was founded in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia where the company still has its global headquarters. ANCA has offices in the UK, Germany, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Brazil, Korea and the USA as well as a comprehensive network of representatives and agents worldwide.
ANCA CNC grinders are used for manufacturing precision cutting tools and components across a diverse range of competitive industries including cutting tool manufacture, automotive, aerospace, electronics and medical.
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The company will offer sales support throughout Europe, while Padraic Lunn continues to represent Guill in the UK
Guill Tool, the global leader in extrusion tooling, recently announced EuroDev as their new European sales representative company. They will offer the full line of Guill products across Europe, excluding the UK.
Since its establishment in 1996, EuroDev has been the preferred business development partner of more than 500 North American firms. Their team consists of over 75 highly skilled multilingual professionals whose aim is to help North American companies map out expansion strategies in an increasingly complex marketplace. The company’s sales outsourcing includes market research, entry strategy, lead generation and sales.
Padraic Lunn has worked since 1990 in the medical device extrusion industry in Ireland. With more than 16 years in precision extrusion, Padraic Lunn Enterprises Ltd offers a full range of extrusion machinery and consultancy for all extrusion processes with a strong emphasis on tubing, wire, pipe and profile applications. The firm represents extrusion equipment companies in the UK, Ireland and other parts of Europe. Furthermore, Padraic provides customized extrusion training programs which are based on a customer’s specific process requirements.
In other news at Guill, Rob Peters has been promoted to General Manager. Rob is a graduate of Cornell University, obtaining his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Engineering in Aerospace Engineering. He has worked for a 8 years at Guill, starting off as an R&D Manager, transitioning to Business Intelligence/R&D Manager, then Director of Technology. Rob is now responsible for various operations at Guill and reports directly to company ownership.
For more information, please contact:
Tom Baldock, Sales Manager, Extrusion
Guill Tool & Engineering
10 Pike Street
West Warwick, RI 02893
USA
Phone: 401-465-5526
tbaldock@guill.com
E-Z LOK, a leading manufacturer and master distributor of threaded inserts for metal, plastic and wood is now offering E-Z™ Knife brass and stainless steel threaded inserts for wood.
Suited for use in hardwoods like oak, cherry and maple, these inserts are ideal wherever assembly or disassembly could cause thread erosion or stripping. E-Z Knife™ threaded inserts use a proprietary external “knife” thread to slice into the wood and provide superior holding power. They are most often machined out of brass when internal thread sizes range from #4 to ⅜ or M3 to M8. Notable features include superior hardwood holding power with sizes available in inch (coarse/fine) and metric. The inserts easily install with a bolt/jam nut or optional drive tool.
Brass inserts are ideal for furniture, cabinetry and partitions, while stainless steel is used in marine applications. Several industries including shipping containers, outdoor furniture and storm shutters use either.
E-Z™ Knife threaded inserts and thread repair kits provide an easy solution for adding machine threads to hard woods. They can also be used for softwood, but they are not recommended for plywood. A proprietary external thread for superior holding power is used by these inserts.
FREE SAMPLE ON REQUEST
CAD files on this product can be downloaded in over 100 file formats from the E-Z LOK website at https://www.ezlok.com/cad-downloads
For more information, please contact:
Kyle Lindsly-Roach, Director of Sales & Marketing
E-Z LOK
240 E. Rosecrans Ave
Gardena, CA 90248
USA
Phone: 310-323-5613 x221
klindsly@ezlok.com
www.ezlok.com
E-Z LOK is a leading manufacturer and master distributor of threaded inserts for metal, plastic and wood. Inserts for metal include solid wall and helical wire-thread inserts, while inserts for plastic feature press-in and ultrasonic/heat stake designs. Those for wood are die cast zinc alloy hex drives for soft wood and brass knife threads for hardwood. A variety of kits for the above inserts are available and feature installation tools, drill bits, etc.
E-Z LOK is a third-generation family owned and operated company. Founded in 1956, it primarily sells through local, regional, and national industrial distributors.
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Truly optimizing medical machining often requires specialized cutters, and there’s no better model for designing and grinding them than ARCH Cutting Tools, headquartered in Warren, Michigan, USA.
Take the task of machining a polyethylene tibial insert. As ARCH Cutting Tools’s northeastern regional director of operations, Jim Gray, spelled out, this has almost always been done with a single, flat blade mounted in a holder so as to maximize the shear angle. But, said Gray, this design often produces lines on the surface, or an “orange peel” effect, due to burning, as it doesn’t cut the polyethylene as cleanly as desired. A straight flute design also impacts the part with a lot of force on each rotation.
Gray’s team instead used their knowledge and ANCA’s programming software to create a unique 1½” (38.1 mm) diameter 3-flute carbide helical cutter with high shear and multiple radii along the profile. They grind it on an ANCA MX7 machine, using a dozen wheels to create a mirror finish and a cutting edge “sharper than a razor blade,” as Gray described it. “You need a very sharp edge to cut the plastic perfectly cleanly. Even a diamond grain that goes through cutting edge, leaving a tiny chip, will show up in the insert. We inspect these tools under a microscope to confirm the edge is crisp and clean.” Gray added that their helical design also distributes the cutting forces, in contrast to a straight flute. In sum, the ARCH Cutting Tools solution delivers an outstanding part finish, higher throughput, and longer tool life.
Replicating perfection
Gray also pointed out that in addition to the tool design assistance derived from ANCA’s programming software, which includes full 3D simulation, the ToolDraft feature enables detailed documentation for process control. “Instead of relying on 2D drawings on the shop floor,” Gray expounded, “ToolDraft gives us the ability lay out every aspect of the tool and the required grinding wheels. One page covers the gullet shape, with the roughing wheel, the finishing wheels, and any information related to fluting. The next page covers profiling, again with all the wheel shapes and data, and the required clearance angles, land width, and other tool geometries. And so forth for the end face. We also add notes to each drawing to provide detail on what’s pertinent to this tool…what really makes it work.
“We love what ToolDraft does for us. Because if all you put out on the floor is a 2D drawing with an outside diameter or shape of the tool, the operator can say ‘This tool is good. It’s to print,’ when in reality, the body’s thin and the rake is not right. There are so many things that go into why we designed a tool a certain way, that if we don’t get complete information to the operator, everyone can have a different opinion about what constitutes a correct copy. We’ve promised our customers that no matter what person and what machine grinds their tool, they’ll get the same tool every time. And the only way we can keep that promise is with the documentation we’ve created with ToolDraft.”
Gray added that although it’s possible to grind such tools with a ball screw driven machine, it’s much easier to produce them with ANCA’s newer linear motor technology. “Linear motors have definitely changed our world when it comes to finishes and transitioning for profile cutters,” he explained. “They make it easier to grind the profile, especially with a tool like a condyle cutter, because multiple radiuses go up and over the edge. If you’re grinding in just one direction, a ball screw machine is fine. But if you go up and over and you need to produce multiple radiuses in the front and multiple radiuses in the back, that little backlash or wear in the ball screws will force you to fight until you get it all settled and tweaked in. Whereas with a linear motor machine, it’s just true from the start.”
Not all ball nose end mills are equal
Moving on to hip stems, Gray said machining up and over these parts requires ball nose end mills in which the radius and its transition to the OD must be perfect. The end face gashing must also meet exactly at the center. “Any mismatch in the center of the ball nose will put a line in the hip stem, and that’s not acceptable.” Any error in the radius will create geometrical distortion in the part profile, he added. “We scan that whole radius to ensure it’s correct.”
Hip stems have generally been made of titanium and cobalt chromium, Gray explained. These materials are challenging enough, but Gray said the new 3D printed titanium alloys from leading medical suppliers are even more difficult to machine. They’re porous, to facilitate integration with the patient’s bone, which essentially guarantees an interrupted cut. The material is also highly abrasive. Thus, minimizing tool changes and increasing manufacturing speed to achieve an acceptable level of efficiency requires an engineered solution from the likes of ARCH Cutting Tools.
Fast turn-around for custom tools and regrinds
In another example of ARCH Cutting Tools coming to the rescue, a customer suddenly ran out of an imported, replaceable head, keyseat cutter during production. ARCH Cutting Tools delivered a custom engineered, solid carbide version, with coating, in under 48 hours. In another case, ARCH Cutting Tools created a multi-step counterbore that combined 6 different operations in one tool for machining titanium and superalloys. Both examples again point to the power of combining experienced grinding professionals with ANCA’s software and machines to produce high quality medical devices that improve a person’s life.
Regrinding is yet another such area. Not only does ARCH Cutting Tools reliably return used tools to new condition, Gray said there are numerous cases in which they’ve actually improved upon the original tool. “One of our bigger medical customers was buying a faceted drill from one of the world leaders in cutting tools,” recalled Gray. “The drill was being used on titanium, and we put a roll point on it and made some other changes to the geometry that made the reground drill run better than the new tools.”
In this context, Gray praised ANCA’s integrated laser to automatically check for and correct errors in tool runout, and ANCA’s probing capability. In addition to probing coolant holes to ensure proper tool orientation for a regrind, Gray said ANCA makes it easy to probe the entire point profile to enable K-land grinding, a notoriously fiendish task. “You adjust how many points you want along that edge,” Gray expounded. “And if you’re manufacturing the tool, you can probe the profile once and store that data. From then on you don’t have to re-probe to produce a good K-land, until wheel wear becomes a factor.”
Wheel wear would cause the K-land to vary, Gray added, but he again pointed to the ease of re-probing the profile to make adjustments, plus the existence of wheel probes on their ANCA machines. “The wheel probe is absolutely awesome, because it takes human error out and it’s really accurate,” said Gray. The older method uses a measuring bar, and Gray recounted that operators all too often forgot which orientation they should use and destroyed an expensive wheel.
The science of productivity
As Gray put it, ARCH Cutting Tools has to be fast to be competitive, and that requires a process that’s “down to a science.” Things like matching different wheel specifications to the diverse tool materials they have to grind, proper coolant placement, and adaptable tool support. In the latter category, Gary praised ANCA’s P-axis traveling steadyrest and said that for some challenging applications they use an Arobotech, which grips the tool at 3 points and adjusts to changes in diameter as the P-axis moves below the grinding wheel, providing support. “These are all things that give us an edge to be able to do these instruments,” Gray concluded. “They virtually eliminate runout and allow us to run faster.”
But Gray reserves his highest praise for ANCA’s simulation software, calling it “the greatest tool…We used to go to the machine blind. We’d end up scrapping blanks to figure out these complex tools right at the machine. With ANCA’s software, you create complex tools before going to the machine and you’re close to perfect when you run your first part.”
From creative tool design, to efficient machine setup and operation, to tight quality control, ARCH Cutting Tools consistently exemplifies what it takes to meet the challenges of machining medical components.
Images
Condyle Cutter.jpg
ARCH Cutting Tools produces a unique 3-flute carbide helical cutter that delivers unequaled part finish, higher throughput, and longer tool life in machining a polyethylene tibial insert
Ball Nose End Mills.jpg
These ball nose end mills (for machining hip stems) feature a perfect transition from the ball radius to the OD, and an end face gash that meets exactly at the center
Key Cutter.jpg
ARCH Cutting Tools delivered this custom engineered, solid carbide keyseat cutter, with coating, in under 48 hours
Multi-Step Counterbore.jpg
ARCH Cutting Tools created this multi-step counterbore to combine 6 different operations in one tool for machining titanium and superalloys
Carbide Trepan Cutter.jpg
This complex trepan cutter was created to meet an urgent need for cutting non-ferrous material used in respiratory equipment. The tool features a very fine finish and leaves no marks on the part. Gray reported that “the customer was ecstatic”
For further information, please contact:
Amanda Bakun
Marketing & Communications Manager – Americas
248-497-1168
amanda.bakun@anca.com
ANCA is a market leading manufacturer of CNC grinding machines. It was founded in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia where the company still has its global headquarters. ANCA has offices in the UK, Germany, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Brazil, Korea and the USA as well as a comprehensive network of representatives and agents worldwide.
ANCA CNC grinders are used for manufacturing precision cutting tools and components across a diverse range of competitive industries including cutting tool manufacture, automotive, aerospace, electronics and medical.
Continue reading
E-Z Lok, a leading manufacturer and master distributor of threaded inserts for metal, plastic and wood offers E-Z Press™ inserts.
Press-in Inserts are designed for post-molding installation in either thermoset plastics or thermoplastics. A slotted design with diamond-knurled OD allows for “cold” installation with optimum torque/pull-out resistance. When the E-Z Press™ insert is installed, it compresses slightly along the slot. As the fastener is threaded into place, the insert expands and the diamond knurl is pressed into the wall of the hole, securing the insert in place.
Cold installation of threaded inserts reduces the costs of moldings and eliminates the need to “chase” threads after molding. Furthermore, they also help cut reject waste caused by misaligned and faulty inserts and assist in proper installation without a precise hole depth.
E-Z Press™ inserts are available in three styles: flush, flanged, and reverse slot. All three types press into place for fast, easy installation. Anything from a rubber mallet to an arbor press can be used for installation.
CAD files on this product can be downloaded in over 100 file formats from the E-Z Lok website at https://www.ezlok.com/cad-downloads
FREE SAMPLE ON REQUEST
For more information, please contact:
Kyle Lindsly-Roach, Director of Sales & Marketing
E-Z Lok
240 E. Rosecrans Ave
Gardena, CA 90248
USA
Phone: 310-323-5613 x221
klindsly@ezlok.com
www.ezlok.com
E-Z Lok is a leading manufacturer and master distributor of threaded inserts for metal, plastic and wood. Inserts for metal include solid wall and helical wire-thread inserts, while inserts for plastic feature press-in and ultrasonic/heat stake designs. Those for wood are die cast zinc alloy hex drives for soft wood and brass knife threads for hard wood. A variety of kits for the above inserts are available and feature installation tools, drill bits, etc.
E-Z Lok is a third- generation family owned and operated company. Founded in 1956, it primarily sells through local, regional, and national industrial distributors.
Continue readingHow Lena Risse went from apprentice to ANCA Female Machinist of the Year
Like many people, Lena Risse didn’t know what career to pursue when she entered young adulthood in 2017. Now she’s won ANCA’s inaugural Female Machinist of the Year contest.
Lena studied media technology at a university for a time, and began a related apprenticeship in supporting trade fairs and concerts, but it didn’t suit her. Then, at 19, she decided to give tool grinding a try, an option that seemed simultaneously obvious and crazy. Obvious, because her father Horst Risse was running a one-man tool grinding company with such love and dedication that he routinely says he’ll be standing at a machine when he’s 85. And crazy, because to this day, Lena finds so few females in the field, though she’ll convincingly explain why that should not be the case.
Lena had helped out at Risse Werkzeugtechnik GmbH (Risse Tool Technology GmbH) in Erkrath, Germany, as a teenager, doing things like packaging and laser marking. But she’d never touched the tool grinders. That changed as she started her apprenticeship in 2018. She took immediately to her father’s four ANCA machines and found that the more she did, the more she liked it.
Her curriculum called for cycles of six weeks of practical work in the company combined with two weeks of classroom theory. By the beginning of 2022, Lena passed her exams to become a fully qualified machinist. By then she was also responsible for all the company’s regrinding, which is roughly half their business, plus many additional duties. On top of that, she’s pursuing a master craftsman qualification—the only woman in the region to do so—and is on track to finish this summer. That would certify her to manage and train production teams.
It’s not the diplomas that motivate her though. It’s the satisfaction of things like starting a week with hundreds of diverse, damaged or worn-out tools, wondering how you’re going to sharpen them all, and then measuring, programming, grinding, and delivering them all to happy customers by week’s end. Or the satisfaction of inventing a dead stop for their automatic chuck, so they could hold a tight tolerance on length when regrinding a series of unequal end mills.
Lena’s training didn’t include the intricacies of ANCA’s iGrind software, but she’s explored it on her own, greatly boosting the company’s capabilities. (The elder Risse never had time to attend any of ANCA’s training courses.) For example, she introduced auto-loading tools of different lengths, expanding the kinds of “lights out” jobs they can do. And when a customer ordered 1,000 drills with through-hole coolant, she immediately recognized that her father’s approach of adjusting the rotational position of the blank by sight was not going to work. So she programmed a probing routine on their 15 year old ANCA RX7 to automate the task.
What’s next? Lena envisions continuing to stand alongside her dad for years to come, and they’re discussing the option of taking on an apprentice when Lena gets her master machinist certification. She’s also considering the possibility of adding the role of teaching other grinders at a nearby school or business.
Whatever she does, Lena is adamant that it’s a wonderful career for women and she decries the fact that virtually everyone she meets in the field, and all her instructors and company managers, have been male. As she sees it, “tool grinding is about patience, precision, logical thinking, and just finding solutions for problems. And I don’t think that men are better at this than women. I never have a day at work where I say ‘I don’t want to do this. This is a job for a man,’ or anything like that.” She adds that while she thinks women can do dirty or strenuous work, they should know that tool grinding is pretty much the opposite, “and I would like to see more women have the courage to just do it.”
For further information, please contact:
Amanda Bakun
Marketing & Communications Manager – Americas
248-497-1168
amanda.bakun@anca.com
ANCA is a market leading manufacturer of CNC grinding machines. It was founded in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia where the company still has its global headquarters. ANCA has offices in the UK, Germany, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Brazil, Korea and the USA as well as a comprehensive network of representatives and agents worldwide.
ANCA CNC grinders are used for manufacturing precision cutting tools and components across a diverse range of competitive industries including cutting tool manufacture, automotive, aerospace, electronics and medical.
Continue reading
1.1 billion cutting tools and counting have shaped the world around us for 50 years
Family, fulfillment, and a fascination with technology are all part of a formula that has seen ANCA lead the demanding niche of CNC tool and cutter grinders for a half-century.
In its time, the Australia-based global business has made an enormous yet largely hidden contribution to the world, selling over 10,000 5-axis CNC machines to over 2,500 customers. Around 1.1 billion tools have been created using ANCA’s grinders.
“You would be very unlikely to find any bit of advanced equipment, anywhere in the world, that hasn’t been touched by a cutting tool which has been manufactured on one of our machines,” explains co-founder Pat Boland, whose company’s customers include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Iscar, Sandvik, Sutton Tools and many other household names.
Boland and Pat McCluskey – then an electrical engineer and an industrial electronics tradesman – met at a government-owned munitions factory in Melbourne in 1968. The two Pats started ANCA in 1974 in a spare room at Boland and wife Libby’s home.
“It wasn’t about money in the beginning, and for me it’s not about money now…I get my kicks out of designing new machines,” explains McCluskey. “Even before we started ANCA, Pat and I have always been driven by simply wanting to get machines to do things better. My enduring philosophy in business is if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. New ideas and new thinking are the basis of our business.”
ANCA’s highly sophisticated CNC grinding machines are exported around the world, with 98 percent of its revenue being generated by exports. The ANCA Group also makes associated equipment and software, including robot arms, software, and control systems, and offers automation services and technology to OEM machine builders.
Leading the incredibly demanding tool and cutter market – where nanometer-level details matter – means a reinvestment of roughly a tenth of revenues back into R&D.
A near-obsession with solving customer problems has seen ANCA contribute a collection of world firsts to its industry, including the first probe for digitizing tools, first modem for support and diagnostics in a machine, first full and true 3D simulation of the grinding process, and many more.
Martin U. Ripple, who has been at the helm of ANCA as CEO since November 2022, reflects on the company’s enduring legacy. “In all my interactions, I’ve observed a consistent thread – our customers invariably share fond recollections of their encounters with ANCA dating back to the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. It’s evident that there’s a deep-seated loyalty and trust towards our brand,” he notes.
Ripple, always keen on uncovering the unique elements that set a business apart, asks, ‘What is the secret ingredient that differentiates us from our competitors? What makes ANCA exceptional?’ His answer is the involvement of family in the business, a fervent passion driving the company forward, and a steadfast commitment to providing customers with the most innovative products. This blend, according to Ripple, is the essence of ANCA’s success and longevity.”
Edmund Boland, son of Pat and ANCA CNC Machines’ General Manager, values ANCA’s agility as a privately owned company which enables swift decisions to support ANCA’s people and customers.
“ANCA has always endeavored to stay ahead of the curve, anticipating market trends and delivering cutting-edge solutions which enable our customers to thrive. With 50 years of innovation behind us, our product and technology portfolios are perfectly placed to meet the challenges of the future.”
The delivery of technical and practical excellence has required a sharp focus on both vertical integration – creating everything from the machines’ motors to their polymer concrete bases to their sheetmetal canopies – and both trade and university-taught skillsets.
ANCA has trained more than 60 apprentices and established its formal apprenticeship program in 2011. McCluskey enthusiastically wrote the course material for this.
While being very particular with skill and technology development is one way to look at ANCA’s story, Pat Boland also likes to zoom out to a very general view.
The ANCA era runs 50 years and counting, touching countless lives, operating in the background.
It’s shorter than, but has similarities to the overall story of toolmaking: critical to industrial progress, even if it needs pointing out every now and then.
“For the vast sweep of history, the only evidence of homosapiens and our predecessors are cutting tools,” says Boland.
“And a number of the broad eras of human life are really named after cutting tools. So the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age. What we’re talking about is the technology of cutting tools as much as anything.”
Celebrating a golden achievement across the globe
To mark the occasion of ANCA’s 50th anniversary, the company is hosting a series of open houses, seminars, events, and attending tradeshows worldwide. As innovation has motivated ANCA throughout the company’s history, new products and developments will be at the center of the 50th year celebrations.
At global tradeshows and ANCA Open House events, precision manufacturers can experience new hard- and software for micro tool and gear tool manufacturing, edge preparation, closed loop manufacturing and automation.
Russell Riddiford says: “Our large and experienced group of engineers and developers is continuously presenting new solutions to meet customers’ needs. Highest quality tools and lowest cost per part are the guiding principles leading to groundbreaking, real-world innovations. Examples are our new MicroX CNC grinding machine, using nanometer control technology and ANCA Machine Intelligence to produce micro tools of unseen quality, or our AIMS system, the world’s first and only autonomous system for tool manufacturing.”
ANCA’s U.S. Open House will take place on May 7 & 8 from 9:00-6:00 at their Wixom, Michigan headquarters. Please RSVP to: amanda.bakun@anca.com
For further information, please contact:
Amanda Bakun
Marketing & Communications Manager – Americas
248-497-1168
amanda.bakun@anca.com
ANCA is a market leading manufacturer of CNC grinding machines. It was founded in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia where the company still has its global headquarters. ANCA has offices in the UK, Germany, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Brazil and the USA as well as a comprehensive network of representatives and agents worldwide.
ANCA CNC grinders are used for manufacturing precision cutting tools and components across a diverse range of competitive industries including cutting tool manufacture, automotive, aerospace, electronics and medical.
Continue reading
E-Z Lok, a leading manufacturer and master distributor of threaded inserts for metal, plastic and wood now offers E-Z Coil™ and thread repair kits.
Wire or helical coil threaded inserts quickly repair or reinforce tapped holes in soft metals. Made from 18-8 stainless steel wire, these helical coil inserts are corrosion resistant and can withstand temperatures up to 800°F. Furthermore, they offer corrosion resistance and protection from wearing and stripping.
E-Z Coil™ helical insert coils are manufactured by forming the stainless steel wire into a diamond shape and then winding it into a spring. Prior to installation, the insert diameters are larger than the tapped hole. During installation, the insert diameter of the helical coil insert is reduced, allowing the insert to thread into the hole. Once properly installed, the radial pressure of the released insert holds the insert firmly in place.
Thread Repair kits are available in both standard and economy, and in a variety of sizes. Each Economy E-Z Coil™ Thread Repair kit includes a set of inserts, an STI tap, and an installation tool. The standard kit also includes a tang break tool and drill bit.
CAD files on this product can be downloaded in over 100 file formats from the E-Z Lok website at https://www.ezlok.com/cad-downloads
For more information, please contact:
Kyle Lindsly-Roach, Director of Sales & Marketing
E-Z Lok
240 E. Rosecrans Ave
Gardena, CA 90248
USA
Phone: 310-323-5613 x221
klindsly@ezlok.com
www.ezlok.com
E-Z Lok is a leading manufacturer and master distributor of threaded inserts for metal, plastic and wood. Inserts for metal include solid wall and helical wire-thread inserts, while inserts for plastic feature press-in and ultrasonic/heat stake designs. Those for wood are die cast zinc alloy hex drives for soft wood and brass knife threads for hard wood. A variety of kits for the above inserts are available and feature installation tools, drill bits, etc.
E-Z Lok is a third-generation family owned and operated company. Founded in 1956, it primarily sells through local, regional, and national industrial distributors.
Continue readingThe GDS µGrind ANCA collet adaptor is designed with the highest level of consistent accuracy and improved productivity in mind
The performance of any process relies on the performance of its individual components. This is particularly relevant in the grinding of precision tools. The increasing need for extreme accuracy and tolerances, as well as competitive and labor pressures, result in the demand for accessories that are more precise, easy to use and maintenance-free.
A selection of good quality, easy to use workholding that provides minimal and consistent runout is one of the prerequisites for successful grinding, resulting in quality tools and happy customers – once again reinforcing that the quality of the whole process relies on the quality of all its components.
ANCA has partnered with GDS, a renowned German manufacturer of high-quality precision accessories for grinding and machining processes. One of their flagship products is the µGrind workholding, which is now available from ANCA’s distribution network. The µGrind has been customized to suit the requirements of ANCA grinding machines and can be set up in a matter of minutes.
Benefits of the µGrind workholding:
µGrind performance has been tested in real-life applications and the results are very consistent. A test was performed over a large batch of 6mm tools where runout was measured before and after grinding at 2.5 x Ø and 10 x Ø. Even with thousands of clamping and diameter changes, the runout remained virtually unchanged.
The GDS µGrind ANCA workholding is a smart investment that will serve you for years to come. By saving time and improving tool quality, this translates into satisfied customers and better business outcomes.
For further information, please contact:
Amanda Bakun
Marketing & Communications Manager – Americas
248-497-1168
amanda.bakun@anca.com
ANCA is a market leading manufacturer of CNC grinding machines. It was founded in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia where the company still has its global headquarters. ANCA has offices in the UK, Germany, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Brazil and the USA as well as a comprehensive network of representatives and agents worldwide.
ANCA CNC grinders are used for manufacturing precision cutting tools and components across a diverse range of competitive industries including cutting tool manufacture, automotive, aerospace, electronics and medical.
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Projected global demand for products such as taps, dies, and thread forming tools is anticipated to rise from 2.75 billion to 3.42 billion over the next five years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5%. The high-tech industries, particularly automotive and aerospace sectors, are expected to sustain a significant portion of this growth, accounting for 16% of the overall market demand. Additionally, there is an expected increase in demand from medical applications, which is projected to contribute another 7% to the total market share within the next five years.
Given the impetus from these high-tech markets, tap producers will need to enhance their designs to meet the escalating market share of specialized materials. Notably, composites (expected CAGR of 8.5%) and super alloys (expected CAGR of 7.5%) are anticipated to experience the most substantial growth, necessitating the development of tailored designs in response.
With the boom of automotive and aerospace applications, ANCA sees great potential for the future of the high-end tap market. ANCA’s years of experience working with tap manufacturers has given the company valuable insights into the industry challenges, making it well-equipped to offer the right solution. The TapX is a machine specifically designed and integrated with automation to ensure high productivity in mass production. As a one-machine solution with single clamping, it guarantees substantial benefits for manufacturing standard and special taps by eliminating the traditional requirement of needing several grinding machines.
Flexible, precise and efficient one-stop tap grinding is simply unimaginable on ordinary grinding machines, as high-speed steel taps, carbide taps, micro taps and non-standard taps require different and detailed solutions. The difference lies in the performance of a single grinding process, a parallel grinding process or a combined grinding process. In addition, several grinding machines are usually required, each performing a specific tap grinding task. TapX integrates the various processes into one machine.
Flexibility is a key feature of the tap grinding process on the TapX. The specially designed machine and powerful ToolRoom software ensure a vast range of tap types and sizes can be designed and manufactured in one set-up. Combine this with the benefits of quick changeover time and it’s not hard to see how TapX can increase productivity and reduce lead times.
The production of taps in different materials is an example of how this highly flexible solution can contribute to productivity. Taps are mainly made of HSS and carbide materials, which require high precision, surface finish and reliability for grinding. TapX is suitable for the complete production of HSS or carbide taps. With a single set-up, it can grind various types of standard taps, micro taps and non-standard taps. Its excellent rigidity guarantees repeatable, high-quality results, while its CNC control plus programmable force of the center ensures reliability of high frequency movements.
The TapX uses ANCA’s own LinX motor technology for all linear axes and direct drive technology for all rotary axes. By eliminating all belts, pulleys, and gears, the TapX is not only a more precise machine, but a more reliable one as well.
Although HSS will remain the dominant material of choice, carbide tools are growing in popularity with the increase in thread milling applications and introduction of more exotic materials. Compared with HSS, carbide offers high rigidity, good machining quality and long service life. Consequently, the production of carbide taps presents challenges for machine productivity, accuracy and dressing of special thread grinding wheels.
TapX offers the perfect solution with its single clamping to optimize the grinding process. Combined with greater flexibility in wheel selection and process deployment, this revolutionary solution means more flexibility, reduced costs and increased tap production output. The total set-up time for multiple general machines is reduced from three to four hours to one hour for one TapX machine, which significantly reduces lead time for small to medium batch production, urgent order response and customer changes. In recent years, ANCA continues to innovate and has developed a unique solution for dome carbide taps with a wider application. Its superior performance is unmatched in the industry.
Recognizing the efficiency, accuracy and reusability of TapX, customers have begun to expand their product range to include spiral, straight flute and forming taps, and even micro parts. Micro taps are mostly used in smartphones, glasses, consumer electronics, aviation and military industries. Any miniaturized part may be machined with a small or micro tap.
In recent years, the growing demand for mobile devices and new materials has led to a sharp increase in the consumption of thread tapping tools, which in turn resulted in an unprecedented boom for machines grinding small or micro taps. This means that manufacturers such as ANCA, who have the capability to manufacture these tools, have great potential to meet the ever-growing market demand. To grind small batches of taps, conventional machines simply take too long to set up. With ANCA TapX, customers can integrate the entire process into just one machine, significantly increasing productivity through rapid tap design, set-up and changeover.
The TapX grinding solution is an excellent option to meet the high demand for high-quality tap products or to fulfill the needs of emerging manufacturers in the market. The TapX one-machine grinding concept provides faster tap design, set-up, and changeover to reduce lead times and boost competitiveness. Gone are the high costs, inflexible production and low productivity due to lengthy machine set-ups. ANCA remains committed to offering comprehensive grinding solutions for its customers.
For further information, please contact:
Amanda Bakun
Marketing & Communications Manager – Americas
248-497-1168
amanda.bakun@anca.com
ANCA is a market leading manufacturer of CNC grinding machines. It was founded in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia where the company still has its global headquarters. ANCA has offices in the UK, Germany, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Brazil and the USA as well as a comprehensive network of representatives and agents worldwide.
ANCA CNC grinders are used for manufacturing precision cutting tools and components across a diverse range of competitive industries including cutting tool manufacture, automotive, aerospace, electronics and medical.
Continue reading