Grinding Wheel Manufacturer Saves Hours In Tank Cleaning With Filter

General Industrial Diamond Company (GIDCO) has been a manufacturer of diamond and CBN wheels for 50 years. These GIDCO high quality wheels are used in the manufacture of carbide and steel end mills, drills, and tools used in the metalworking field. Consistent quality, durability, and dimensional accuracy at this cost level are essential.

Mr. Bill Codd, Plant Manager, was searching for an inexpensive way to cut down tank cleaning on a rotary surface grinder used in their Whippany, New Jersey manufacturing plant. This machine is used to surface grind diamond grinding wheels used on a great variety of applications in their customers' plants. The wheels consist of bakelite, various resins, diamond powder and other abrasives. The Heald tank had to be cleaned every two weeks and it was hoped the use of filtered coolant would permit more efficient machine operation.

Mr. Codd responded to a trade ad which described the Roltray Coolant Filter (Industrial Filters Co., Inc., Fairfield, New Jersey). The filter is a tray-like device which simply rests on the grinder tank under the coolant spout. The tray is covered with a sheet of filter fabric which is pulled from a roll at the end of the tray. The coolant flows through the inexpensive filter media and into the grinder tank. Wheel grit is retained on the surface of the filter sheet. Eventually the sheet becomes loaded with enough solids so that it is pulled across the tray, cut off on the cutting blade at the end of the unit, and dropped into a metal box in a relatively dry form.

The Roltray filter has been in use at the GIDCO plant for approximately one year. It provides clean filtered coolant to the machine with no grit on the table and work. Tank cleaning has been extended to five weeks and operating personnel have been pleased with the results they can obtain through improved performance. Filtered coolant usually lasts longer, allows for better finishes, permits longer wheel life, and will even cut down on pump wear.

A second Roltray unit has been installed at GIDCO, and a third Roltray may be obtained for use on another machine. MMS