Precision Tool Grinding

Precision Grinding Services In Toolmaking

Nearly every toolmaking shop uses outside precision grinding services to shorten delivery dates and ensure quality. From beginning to end, there are applications that are best served by outsourcing.

Injection mold making

Years ago, most injection mold shops made their own mold bases. Now, it is only the specialty shop or extremely high precision shop that manufacture their own. It is the same with most mold components, very often it is more cost effective to have it done outside.

Core pins are a prime example of using a grinding service. Not every shop has a Ded-Tru grinder or cylindrical grinder at their disposal, so it is easy to justify sending the work outside. Unless there are proprietary secrets that should be kept in-house, let the experts handle it. Focus on what you do best and leave the rest.

Core and cavity blocks can be ordered to any specified size, are Blanchard ground to size, and square. This saves a huge amount of time, and frees up the toolmaker so concentrate on the molding details, instead of squaring up blocks.

Virtually all of the precision grinding can be sent out, but, of course, this is not practical. Ejector pins, slides, lock blocks, wear plates, interlocks, leader pins and bushings, etc., can all be done outside. Usually the price is quite reasonable, especially if the grinding service specializes in their niche.

One of the benefits is that they have to pay for any scrapped parts. You only pay for and receive a finished part, done to your specifications.

Tool and die making

In a similar manner as mold making, stamping and forming dies have grinding on nearly every component in the die. Most of these operations could be outsourced to a reputable supplier. There are actually some shops that resemble assembly shops, because so much is done by various suppliers. This takes a lot of management and coordination, and is often not as easy as it might appear. It is also hard to actually make money this way.

If your strength is in WEDM, why allow yourself to become distracted with ID/OD grinding, for example? It is easy to spend 80% of your time on 20% of your workload, which certainly is not a formula for success.

There are numerous CNC machine shops that are able to attain a high level of expertise in a specialized part of the toolmaking process. These are the shops that can greatly speed up the production of your die. With a good working relationship a level of trust develops and communication becomes much easier.

Gages and fixtures

Many injection molds and stamping dies require gages and fixtures to accompany the tooling. As a part of the entire package, these become important parts of the project. Using a ground plate as the base is a very common practice, but not everyone has the capability to grind their own plates.

It is the same with the tooling balls, and other difficult to grind shapes commonly used in gaging, it is better left to a dedicated precision grinding shop.

Companies such as GKN Sintered Metals, Arrow Grinding, and Detroit Edge Tool Company are good example of this type of grinding operation.