Niche Grinding Proves To Be Successful
When Curt Reed decided to open his business in 2000, selecting a name for his company wasn’t one of his challenges. Precision Grinding Solutions, LLC (Wallingford, CT) is the combination of Curt Reed’s years of machining experience and vision of an often overlooked niche in contract grinding. Beginning his career as a tool and mold maker in the mid 80’s, Reed ended up starting his business to provide application engineering services to the grinding industry primarily with the Studer group at United Grinding Technologies. During the next 2 years, Reed was involved with grinding tests and acceptance run-off’s of Studer machines at several UGT/Studer customers’ locations in the US. That experience, coupled with his knowledge of the Studer machines’ capabilities landed him his first contract and the opening of the current PGS facility in Connecticut in 2003.

Reed chose to focus on the more exotic grinding jobs that could enable him to utilize all the capabilities of the Studer S-40 he purchased. Current contracts encompass diverse cylindrical and form grinding applications such as fuel injection components, camshafts, various aerospace products and a variety of close tolerance tooling components. “The flexibility of the Studer S-40 machine is ideal for the diversity of parts we grind”, stated Reed. “It enables us to handle both large and small components (up to 42” lengths and 18” diameter) while consistently achieving roundness and form tolerances below a micron”. The range of production at PGS can be a task requiring 2 inches of stock removal from larger components such as locomotive camshafts, to sub micron internal grinding of fuel injector parts. The materials and types of grinding process’ the Studer has to handle, such as, aerospace alloys, carbides, plasma sprays and metallurgical steels led to a search for a coolant filtration system that could handle the diverse tasks that the PGS shop would face.

Not Just A Machine, But A Complete System
Reed’s 3,000 square foot, climate-controlled facility includes the Studer S-40 with a 2 vessel Transor oil filtration system, a recently installed Zeiss Prismo Accura CMM, surface profile, centerless grinding, and Moore jig boring capability. Reed’s experience with Studer exposed him to a variety of grinding applications. “In the majority of plants”, explained Reed, “water based fluids are used as the coolant. But what water can do to a machine like this is devastating.”

Reed went on to discuss the corrosive nature of water as well as daily maintenance issues that impact grinding machines. He had witnessed first hand the growth of bacteria and the additional maintenance required to eliminate that issue. He decided that at PGS, he would choose oil as the coolant for the Studer S-40. Reed knew that using oil would greatly extend the longetivity of the Studer, the improved work environment, plus all the performance benefits to the grinding process.

Prior to the Studer purchase, Reed had also become familiar with Transor Filter USA (Elk Grove Village, IL) and its One Micron filtration capability. He recognized the ability to filter oil to One Micron (absolute) would impact PGS’s operation on many levels. “Our business is different than those shops that can purchase a machine and amortize the capital expense over the life of a contract,” stated Reed. “By purchasing the Studer, we had made a significant long-term investment and protecting that capital investment was a major concern for me.”

Reed mentioned that while typical filtration such as paper band or centrifuge systems provided “good enough” filtration for some applications, he was convinced that the additional investment in the Transor System was required not only for the close tolerance applications he was going to engage in, but as he discovered, the reduced maintenance and extended life of the Studer S-40.

It Starts With Reduced Maintenance
Reed was introduced to the Transor in operation at Damen Carbide in Chicago where they had multiple systems and were primarily grinding carbide. Reed mentioned how impressed he was at the cleanliness of the machines he had seen when a Transor was added for filtering the oil coolant. “Carbide is an extremely dirty business, but the machines employing a Transor always looked brand new,” said Reed. He recognized that if the Transor could perform in that environment, it would work anywhere.

The Transor works on the unique, patented principle of edge filtration that delivers one-micron filtration. Incorporating an automatic backflushing mode, the elements are cleaned rather than replaced. The sludge is deposited in filter bags that make disposal or reclamation extremely easy. Maintenance on the system is minimal and estimated filter life can reach 30,000+ hours.

“We run two shifts, six days a week,” stated Reed. “The time that would be required to do typical maintenance with other types of filtration would significantly cut into our productivity”. Unlike water coolant that leads to corrosion and additional maintenance issues, having the Transor delivering clean oil enables maximum up-time on the Studer S-40. “With our Transor, we use the clean oil to wash down our machine during and after every shift. This eliminates hours of weekly maintenance that would have to take place otherwise. It also keeps the machine looking (and performing) like new,” Reed said.

With the Transor, Reed was also able to point out that the absence of the accumulation of particulate in moving machine parts, tables, guide ways, etc. generated during the grinding operation will contribute to added machine tool life. With many of the applications performed utilizing hi-speed CBN wheels, machining with oil filtered to One Micron helps the Studer achieve demanding tolerances and surface finishes consistently. Currently, the Transor System has been in operation at PGS for three years. With over 8,000 hours of maintenance-free operation, Reed noted that the oil was as clean as the day it was installed.

Total Cost Of Ownership
Curt Reed’s vision for PGS also extends into his business practices. He readily recognizes the concept of “total cost of ownership” as applied to his capital investment. “Sure the Transor represented an additional capital expenditure at the outset”, noted Reed, “but the initial cost has to be viewed in context with other factors that determine a company’s profitability”.

In discussing his cost justification for investing in the Transor for the Studer S-40, Reed cited documented reduced cycle times, extended wheel life, and reduced disposal costs, along with a virtually maintenance -free operation as a distinct quantifiable part of the purchasing decision.

Reed concluded by stating that all the homework he had done in beginning PGS had paid off. His purchasing decisions had resulted in an operation that met demanding customer requirements by effectively combining maximum productivity with close tolerances. Reed’s confidence in Transor is evident by his recent order for a second system to expand his current capacity.