In The Spotlight - "Machinery Market" 2001

Charles Thurston, managing director of Rochester-based Industrial Machine Tool Services Ltd (Tel: 01634 844477), has been working with grinding machines since the early 1970s, and he started his own machine-servicing company in September 1981 after coming to the conclusion that "working for others in the machine tool field, one could barely earn enough money to raise a family." After almost 30 years of being involved in grinding, it is fair to say that there are very few aspects of the process with which Mr Thurston is not wholly familiar. Despite having 'seen it all', he is currently very enthusiastic about a new business opportunity for his company.

IMTS has recently taken on the agency for Engelhardt, the German manufacturer of CNC systems; in fact, it has already retrofitted an Engelhardt system to a Reinecker four-axis CNC tool and cutter grinder. "We are particularly excited by the opportunity this control provides, as there are many different makes of CNC machine similar to this that are mechanically sound, but limited by their control capability. For this first application, we only used the Engelhardt control, as the motors and drives were in good condition. The control can also be interfaced with either stepper motors or servo motors, so there is particularly wide scope for its application.

"Although most new cutter grinders are either three- or five- axis models, our initial focus will be on four-axis units, as there are many of these in the field that would benefit from an appropriate upgrade. Five-axis machines may offer more features, but for straightforward work they are not always necessary." Mr Thurston says the software available with the Engelhardt system provides far greater capability than older systems that only offer a choice of fixed cycles; and with regard to cost, IMTS will upgrade an existing four-axis machine by replacing the control and drive interfaces for about 25% of the cost of a new machine. This cost also includes the appropriate software.