A recently installed Studer S33, CNC universal cylindrical grinding machine is helping the staff at Ricardo Driveline and Transmission Systems to maintain their high-precision grinding standards.
Ricardo is a global strategic engineering and environmental consultancy specialising in the transport, energy and scarce resources sectors. Within the transport industry, Ricardo’s work extends across a range of markets, including the passenger car, commercial vehicle, rail, defence and motorsport sectors.
The company boasts a range of first-class engineering capabilities enabling it to design and deliver high-quality prototypes and to undertake the low-volume manufacturing of complex products and assemblies, including engines, transmissions, electric motors and generators, battery packs and fuel cell systems.
Located in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Ricardo Driveline and Transmission Systems is dedicated to the design, development and niche manufacture of driveline and transmission systems. The world-class Ricardo facility has been responsible for an extremely wide range of products on a global basis, from cost-optimised manual transmissions for developing markets to advanced high performance systems such as the automated manual transmission of the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
Given the importance of high-precision grinding to the company’s manufacturing activities, Ricardo Driveline and Transmission Systems operate four high-specification Studer CNC universal cylindrical grinding machines, including a recently installed advanced S33 model.
Following its trouble free installation, the Studer S33 is now being used for the high-precision grinding of development and prototype components, in addition it performs relatively small production runs.
Although the staff of Ricardo Driveline and Transmission Systems had been impressed with the performance and reliability of the company’s existing Studer grinders, before the latest Studer acquisition the purchase of other grinding machines were considered.
Studer S33 / 1000mm
Ricardo Driveline and Transmission Systems, Production Team Lead, Victor Smith explained. “As it was possible that other machine tool manufacturers could have made technical improvements to their products, before we made the decision to purchase another Studer model, we compared the features, specification and capabilities of several other high-end grinding machines with the Studer S33. In addition, as company purchasing decisions are based on commercial, as well as technical considerations, we also compared the prices of alternative grinding machines with the S33.
“When compared to the other machines that we considered, the Studer S33 proved to be the idealCNC universal cylindrical grinding machine for our demanding needs. Also, considering its impressive specification, we were surprised that it was only marginally more expensive than its less capable competitors. Further factors that influenced our decision were, the consistent high-quality of the components that we grind on our existing three Studer machines and their outstanding reliability. Also, over many years we have enjoyed excellent after-sales support from Studer and the company’s UK agent Micronz.
“To ensure that our operators quickly became familiar with our new S33’s operation we sent them to Studer’s HQ in Switzerland for training. Even though our staff were already experienced in the use of Studer machines and familiar with the company’s software, the in-depth training they received at Studer’s HQ proved extremely beneficial. On return, our operators were able to put into practice the additional knowledge gained in Switzerland and to exploit the S33 to its full-potential.
“Because of their intended uses, the components that we grind have extremely demanding technical specifications, related to parameters such as surface finish, roundness and dimensional tolerances. Our new Studer S33 is now helping us to adhere to all of these precision grinding requirements.
“Also, even though our department has a large throughput of grinding work, we grind small numbers of development and prototypes parts and undertake relatively limited production runs, therefor we need to make quite a lot of job change-overs in each working day. As our new Studer S33 allows us to make rapid change-overs from one job to another, we are able to work efficiently by minimising grinding down times and maintaining our productivity levels.”
A result of more than 100 years of experience in the development and production of cylindrical grinding machines, the Studer S33, as purchased by Ricardo Driveline and Transmission Systems, is a premium quality CNC universal cylindrical grinding machine that provides both precision and productivity.
The Studer S33 is optimised for the individual and batch production of medium-sized workpieces. Studer supply the S33 with optional distance between centres of 400mm (15.7") / 650mm (25.6") / 1,000mm (40") / 1,600mm (63") and a centre height of 175mm (6.9"). Whilst the S33 is able to machine workpieces with a maximum weight of 150kg (330lbs).
Granitan® S103 is used for the Studer S33 machine base. Thanks to the excellent thermal properties of Granitan® S103, consistent dimensional accuracy is assured. Also, due to its exceptional damping properties, outstanding surface quality is achieved. The damping properties of Granitan® S103 also ensure that users’ non-productive times are reduced, as grinding wheel service life is increased.
Changing over from grinding between centres to live spindle grinding is particularly easy on the flexible S33. Whilst the machine’s new wheelhead with two motor spindles enables the grinding of complex workpiece geometries in a single clamping.
The S33 is available with two optional wheelheads. A Turret wheelhead, that can be specified with one of 13 possible configurations, for example with 2 external and 1 internal grinding spindle or 1 external and 2 internal spindles.
The wheel-head is positioned by an automatic swivel with 1° Hirth serration. The machine also has an external wheelhead with a grinding wheel on the right with degree separations of 0° / 15° / 30°. An optional C-axis is located on the S33 workhead for thread grinding, whilst a double T-slot is integrated into workpiece table to accommodate dressing devices. To aid external and internal grinding on the turret wheelhead, the S33’s motor spindle includes a frequency converter.
Trouble-free programming is achieved with the use of Studer’s feature rich, yet easy to use software – StuderPictogramming. Whilst reduced setup and resetting times are delivered by the use of Studer Quick-Set. For customers wishing to create grinding and dressing programs, PC StuderWIN programming software is offered as an option. The Studer S33 can also be retrofitted with further software modules.