New PTG Holroyd CNC machine is first of kind to precision grind both worms and gears

This PTG Holroyd machine is the first of kind to grind both worms and gears

A new piece of machinery at Holroyd’s is now capable of carrying out two tasks which typically required the use of two machines.

Manufacturing high-accuracy worm gears and screws alongside precision spur and helical gears has traditionally required the use of two quite different CNC grinding machines, but the newly launched HG350-WG worm and gear grinding centre can now complete both tasks.

Mark Curran, sales director, said: “Since the launch of our HG350-G [gear-only] grinding centre in 2021, we’ve been investigating ways of bringing manufacturers of worms or gears, or both, greater levels of flexibility and efficiency in their manufacturing processes.

“The result of a multi-million-pound machine tool development programme, our new HG350-WG worm and gear grinding centre does just that. Taking the concept behind the PTG Holroyd HG350 range a stage further, the dual-capability ‘WG’ model has been designed not only for the one-off and batch grinding of high-accuracy worms and screws, but also for precision grinding spur and helical gears of up to 350 mm in diameter.

“Primarily, that means significantly improved versatility for manufacturers who need to quickly switch between grinding processes. Many other businesses will now only need to invest in one type of helical grinding machine tool while, for others, selecting a HG350-WG model will mean being able to expand their manufacturing capability to either worms or gears.”

Just like all PTG Holroyd HG350-G gear grinding machines, the new HG350-WG worm and gear variant is controlled by Siemens’ highly intuitive Sinumerik ONE future-proof CNC.

Holroyd was the first UK machine tool manufacturer to embrace the benefits of the Sinumerik ONE control, a decision which has helped to equip its HG350 range with class-leading integrated safety and failsafe features, enhanced reporting of machine health and performance data, and uncompromising levels of industrial security.

The HG350-WG machines feature a specially developed extended machine bed allows screws and worm shafts of up to one metre in length to be accommodated. Dedicated software compensates for helical twist, and full topological capability comes as standard. Embracing the Sinumerik ONE CNC’s Profinet capabilities, IO-Link communication technology will be offered with all new HG350-WG machines – as will RFID scanning, an option that will be particularly suitable for machines destined for production cells, by helping ensure that virtually any component or tooling item that needs to be switched between manufacturing cycles, is correctly changed for each gear grinding operation.

The HG350-WG combines extreme rigidity with high power for both CBN and conventional deep grinding operations. On-board features include automatic coordinate adjustment, in-cycle wheel dressing, integrated profile management and coordinate measurement.

Grinding cycles are included for: spur gears; helical gears; crowned helical and spur gears with root or tip relief; worm gears of the form ZK, ZI, ZN and ZA; dual lead (duplex) worm gears; and splines.