Renewable Lubricants is looking like a viable option. I have placed an order for Bio-Syntra LM Cutting Oil and Bio-Metal Cool GP which is a general purpose water miscible product. In I few weeks I hope to begin testing the Bio-Syntra in the fine grinding machine. If that works I will test the Bio-Metal Cool in the CAM grinding machines.

Renewable Lubricants, Inc.

Today,I just found another company that manufactures Bio-Based metalworking fluids. The company is called Renewable Lubricants and they are based out of Ohio. I hope to talk with them soon to see if they can offer a solution for the fine grinding machine.

Also, I would perfer to work with an Ohio based manufacturer of Bio-Lubricants rather than Switzerland.

Here is a link to their website:

http://www.renewablelube.com/

Exploring Vascomill for Fine Grinding

I'm looking at using a vegetable based oil in our fine grinding process. My goal is to increase the life of the CBN grinding wheels by at least 25%.

Here is an excerpt form Blaser's webpage:

Ultimate performance straight
oils based on natural (vegetable
oil) esters.

Added level of safety from very high
flash point and very low mist/vapor
formation.

Greatly reduced consumption as
compared to similar viscosity
mineral oils.

Available with or without
chlorinated additives.

Vascomill

Time for change at last...

After 18 months it looks like the rotor design change will become a reality. It only took one economic recession and competition from Chine to change peoples minds.

The next steps will be to design new broach blades to cut the radius in the rotor.

Benefits of the new rotor design:

• Better priming performance
• Lower tooling cost
• Lower labor cost to manufacture

Design for manufacturability?

Why is it so difficult to bring about change in an orgization when you discover a better way?

At our plant we make rotors for power steering pumps. We slot the rotors and then we broach a teardrop into the end of the slot. The idea for the tear drop is that it relives stress in the slot to prevent it from cracking under load. Now, all of the above is true, but it has since been discovered that the teardrop may be unnecessary. A simple radius could work just as well. If we could simply add a radius an entire process could be eliminated. This would reduce labor, eliminate unnecessary broach tools, eliminate broaching oil(nasty stuff) and save electricity. Why do we continue to do the same old process when a better one is known?