Centerless Grinder Thoughts? 1

[GrindEngineer]

I'm evaluating some lower tier centerless grinders and I was curious if anyone could provide any thoughts or experiences.

We've been looking at Supertec and Palmary grinders. Has anyone dealt with these folks before? Had a good / bad experience with the machine?

As much as I'd love a Mikrosa, Koyo, or Micron we don't need the precision and the prices are beyond our budget.

Thanks folks!

 

[mfgenggear]

Grind

ask the machinery sellers if it is permissible to obtain client who have purchased these machines.
then contact them & ask them these questions. ask politely for their time.
this your best bet.
I have done this myself. I like feedback from actual customers.
for example: did the machines perform as stated by the manufacturer. was quality good enough.
was precision held as specified. was support as promised.

most important is did the manufacture support their machines as promised.
and what is the results are the customers happy with their machines.

Good Luck

Mfgenggear

 

[BrianE22]

You might try the grinding forum at

http://www.practicalmachinist.com

 

[Ceramicguy]

We've had good luck with a Glebar machine. 20 years with minimal downtime and excellent customer support. Also have a Supertec universal. Support has been iffy.

Bruce

http://www.accuratus.com

 

[mfgenggear]

In my facility, for grinding with centers, Toyota are our machine of choice.
very good, very precise, very very few problems.

Mfgenggear

 

[GrindEngineer]

Thanks for the feedback folks.

I've heard good things about Toyoda and Glebar, unfortunately neither make a Centerless large enough to fit our needs.

Ceramicguy, could you elaborate on the service issue? Was it long lead times for parts? Lack of response?

 

[Ceramicguy]

Hi GrindEngineer,

All of the above except lack of response plus a significant language barrier. To be fair, my language skills are restricted to American english (barely), their service comes out of the west coast and I am located on the east coast. Trying to diagnose a problem over the phone is a real challenge and I find the schematics adhering to East Asian convention rather than typical North American conventions making for some creative guess work. They did visit our factory once and did repair a servo problem. Their service guys did their best to be helpful but the language issue was a problem.

Have you considered a Cincinnati machine? There's a lot to be said for refurbed old iron and there seems to be a vibrant support network for the machines.

Bruce

http://www.accuratus.com

 

[GrindEngineer]

Thank you very much Bruce!

We currently have a fleet of Cincinnati's that do all of our grinding. Given the attractive price we felt that the Taiwanese machines were worth looking at. I do appreciate you sharing your experiences.