Intuitive, Powerful and Productive – ANCA Motion’s solutions for the cylindrical and Pinch Peel grinding industries deliver higher productivity and accuracy

July 4, 2022 Advance Branding

How innovation and proven experience in the grinding industry spanning almost 50 years make ANCA Motion the CNC control expert

ANCA began with a $4,000 mini-computer and a drive to innovate. The company was founded by Pat McCluskey and Pat Boland in 1974. Today, ANCA is a world-leading manufacturer of CNC grinding machines, motion controls, precision components and sheet metal solutions. It exports 99% of its products to customers in more than 45 countries.

ANCA’s 50-year growth has been driven by a series of innovations that revolutionized cutting tool production including a touch probe measurement and soft axes for significantly simplified programming of a CNC tool and cutter grinder. To enable more machine OEMs to leverage ANCA’s high performance CNC control systems, ANCA Motion was established in 2008 with a mission to deliver motion control solutions to provide customers a competitive edge.

Based on proven track record experience in high-precision 5-axis machine tool applications, ANCA Motion’s flexible and easy-to-use general CNC system is a benchmark for world class control performance, with the ability to process 300,000 NC blocks per minute which enables the most demanding machining profiles. As an early adopter of the EtherCAT fieldbus technology, ANCA Motion has leveraged EtherCAT’s excellent real time performance to achieve superior synchronization between different axis which is crucial to 5-axis machine tools applications.

The in-cycle MPG Feed is one of ANCA Motion’s innovative solutions that was introduced to the CNC industry almost 30 years ago and is still considered a premium feature in today’s high-end CNC control systems. This feature allows operators to move synchronized joints/axis freely and easily along programmed contouring paths, greatly simplifying the machine commission and job setup.

ANCA Motion is also one of the few CNC control suppliers who can offer nanometer resolution in their control solution, resulting in the finest surface finish. To improve machining efficiency, many grinding OEMs have adopted linear motors in their machines. However, traditional flatbed linear motors pose several problems such as high down forces and low stiffness. To combat these issues, ANCA Motion has developed the LinX® tubular linear motors with a unique anti-disturbance algorithm to achieve improved surface finish at faster cycle time.

Intuitive and productive, CyGrind is ANCA Motion’s complete CNC control package for cylindrical grinding

Combining knowledge and experience gained in the grinding space, ANCA Motion began developing solutions for the cylindrical grinding industry. While it is a well-established market, there is strong demand for a more modern CNC control system to enable easier operations by non-expert workers, and much higher productivity boosted by state-of-art technologies.

CyGrind is ANCA Motion’s complete CNC solution for the cylindrical grinding industry, with features that address existing issues such as the need to get results when expert programmers are unavailable, to reliably produce parts to tight tolerances, and to deliver new levels of productivity. For those used to more traditional cylindrical grinding solutions, CyGrind offers breakthroughs in user experience with its modern software design and intuitive operations.

Cylindrical grinding, particularly for more exotic geometries, has previously been a job for expert-level operators, requiring advanced NC programming skills. CyGrind has made it easy for anyone to accomplish such jobs using drag and drop and highly intuitive prompts that walk a user through the workflow, including simulations, before grinding. Users can create, configure, and execute jobs using a library of geometries, 3D visualization, and highly intuitive prompts. Outside dxf files can also be imported for use.

Jobs can be broken down into four simple steps: tailoring a part’s geometry using predefined segments, assigning operations to each of these, reviewing operations, and editing process parameters. Process parameters can be tweaked for each grinding operation, such as roughing, fining, finishing, and sparkout. Advanced Grind mode also allows these to be enabled or disabled.

Another feature of CyGrind is the ability to accommodate multiple grinding wheels for a system, increasing productivity and accuracy. Different grinding wheels on the same work cell can perform different operations without having to change wheels, eliminating downtime and inaccuracies. CyGrind also supports a collection of automated enhancements to grinding, such as in-process gauging, probing, and automated wheel dressing. Through in-process gauging, dimensions on a part can be measured in real-time, as it’s being ground – eliminating the need to remove it for measurement and reducing cycle times.

ANCA Motion CyGrind solution offers a power feature: OptiGrind, which reduces cycle times up to 50 percent, allowing maximum productivity to be achieved from capital investments. OptiGrind smooths out material removal rates, instead of having the grinding wheel move in and out at a constant speed which is limited by the slowest speed the workpiece can be approached for a certain segment. Because little material is removed in flatter segments, the wheel can move in and out much faster, boosting efficiency.

OptiGrind uses a combination of highly advanced motion control technology and the ability to calculate numerous data in the CNC control. Advanced algorithms enable ANCA Motion’s latest generation AMC6 CNC to process 300,000 blocks per minute (300 K BPM), the absolute top tier in the industry.

The CyGrind complete solution enables non-expert workers to handle machining operations from two-axis to more complex multi-axis operations, such as cam shaft grinding. Non-centered and non-round parts are a breeze for users of all experience levels via CyGrind’s industry-leading features.

ANCA Motion’s Pinch Peel grinding solution provides exceptional performance and optimal concentricity

Another application that ANCA Motion has established their footprint in is Pinch Peel grinding. Pinch Peel is a process where a blank is rotated between a spinning roughing wheel and a finishing wheel – with the finishing wheel trailing the roughing wheel with a small gap. Between the two wheels a significant amount of material can be “peeled” away from the blank to finish with a desired shape that is smaller than the initial blank. By performing both roughing and finishing at the same time, a large volume of highly accurate parts of cylindrical shape can be quickly produced. Since the tool is kept centered between both wheels and supported by a V block and roller, smaller parts can be made at rapid material removal rates without needing to worry about deflecting off center, thus maintaining concentricity and accuracy.

ANCA Motion’s innovative Pinch Peel grinding solution uses sophisticated machine technology to allow for quick part changeover and automatically switches between grinding faces to produce tools of both increasing and decreasing radii. An interactive tool editor allows users to select the size of the blank tool by dragging shapes into the editor and manipulate the individual segment dimensions to create the profile. Shapes included are cylinder, cone and arcs. The editor can generate increasing and decreasing radii.

Users can easily teach the machine the required positions before operating. Each position presents the operator with a new layout containing instructions, the relevant axes selection, feedback and any manual controls required to complete the teaching of the required position. During teaching the machine will be put into jogging mode and the operator can use the MPG to jog the machine to the final position and complete the process. These teaching positions are automatically saved when leaving the main teaching layout.

Users will find the full touch screen easy to use and operate. There is also a layout dedicated to setting the configuration parameters of the grinding wheels and another used to set the configuration of the loader and its pallets. All parameters are automatically saved on leaving the configuration layout.

Another key feature is the ANCA Motion’s Commander software, which has been designed to allow human operators to seamlessly monitor and interact with processed data, providing a cutting-edge user experience. Commander allows users to build custom interfaces with rich visuals, filled with custom intelligence and functionality, with no programming skills required.

ANCA Motion is your business partner in customizable solutions

By keeping up with the latest technology, ANCA Motion enables customers to become both technologically and cost competitive on a global scale, through a close partnership that begins from the development stage and continues through the life of the product. Our unique software modules and patented technology allow customers to configure these components into efficient and innovative solutions. With the engineering head office in Australia and a global presence in more than 40 countries around the world, ANCA Motion can provide service and support when and where it is needed.

For more details, please contact:
ANCA Motion
1 Bessemer Road, Bayswater North,
VIC, 3153 Australia
T: +61 3 9751 8900
India T: +91 636 644 9980
www.ancamotion.com
sales@ancamotion.com