E-Sharp News
May 2017
Since humans invented the wheel, the need to maintain the right balance and stop vibrations has been an ongoing challenge. Simply put, if your grinding wheel is causing vibrations, there is no point in having a rigid grinding machine.
Correctly balanced wheels result in superior surface finish and geometry. That is why all good grinders know the enemy of grinding is vibration. When a wheel is out of balance, the vibration is felt throughout the spindle assembly of the machine, and in severe cases wheel imbalance can be felt through the entire machine. This can lead to excessive wheel wear, inaccurate tools and poor surface finish on the tool.
iBalance is a unique ANCA software product which proactively alerts users to potential wheel vibrations and uses the technology already built into our range of machines. It has been designed to determine whether a wheel is out of balance then prompt and guide the operator through a series of steps to bring the wheel into balance.
Image showing the iBalance software using on the machine.
iBalance can detect and measure the amount of vibration and the direction of imbalance of the grinding wheel. To help our customers achieve superior surface finishes on their tools, the specially designed software uses sensors in the machine servo drives to detect wheel imbalance. Variations in electrical current from the motors are monitored and this data is used to determine and show the operator exactly where balancing weights need to be added to the spindle – similar to a tire balancer, but on the machine.
The software user interface easily identifies where to add weight to the wheel and how much is required to correct any issues. The wheel packs are balanced by adding weights to the end of the wheel nut at the locations identified by the software assistant.
Several additional benefits include extending the wheel life and removing the need to purchase an expensive offline piece of balancing equipment. Finally, as there is no additional hardware to maintain, the iBalance system is as reliable as the machine itself. ANCA understands the effects of an imbalanced wheel when grinding tools and has created a solution to ensure you can get balance right.
iBalance weights mounted on the end of a wheel arbor
By Simon Richardson; ANCA MX machine Platform Product Manager
24 April 2019