August • September 2000 • Vol. XVIII No. 6 • An Arnold Publication

Toolmaker’s Grinder

A Toolmaker Turns His Grinder Wish List Into Reality.

A grinding machine can achieve tighter tolerances and better finishes than other processes, such as turning and milling. However, it must operate in one of the harshest environments encountered in the shop—one that can wear out a machine quickly if it is not given proper attention.

According to Norbert Beadel, president of Santa Ana, CA’s R.T. Industries, “The number one problem with most conventional grinding machines is maintenance.” 

To help solve this problem Beadel formed RTI 3+ years ago as a spin off of Cutting Tool Industries—a 33-year-old toolmaking company that manufactures carbide burrs, files and endmills. CTI operates from a 10,000 sq ft facility and employs 51 people. The fledgling RTI currently occupies a nearby 8,500 sq ft facility and employs eight people.

Experience: The Best Teacher

Over the years in his quest to produce high-quality cutting tools Beadel has gained significant experience using a wide variety of machine tools. The company’s production line currently operates about 45 different machines, including Walters, Unison’s, Anca’s and others.

“We have owned what was already available an the market,” Beadel reports, “and we have found that none of the equipment was really designed by toolmakers. That’s why I finally decided to get in the business and develop a grinding system of my own, one that offers all the features most toolmakers wish they had in their machine tool.”

The Wish List

Beadel’s solution—the Toolmaster grinding system—is reported to solve most of the complaints toolmakers have about their grinders. According to Beadel, his Toolmaster system, designed primarily for grinding high-quality cutting tools, solves such major gripes as difficult access for maintenance, excess complexity, too much vibration and table movement and centerline problems. 

“In my opinion, the last time a really great grinder was introduced,” Beadel says, “was in the 1950s when the Cincinnati No. 2 was introduced. It’s simple in concept and easy to understand and use.”

One of Beadel’s major complaints over the years was what he calls “the long learning curve” needed to teach his operators to use the grinding machines on his line. 

“Frequently we were spending time teaching our people to use features we didn’t need in the first place,” he says. 

To relieve “his growing frustration” Beadel finally started developing his own system about 11 years ago. Then, after eight years of development concentrating on improving approaches to grinding processes, centerline concepts, vibration, and table movements, the project culminated in formation of RT Industries and the creation of Toolmaster. 

“The Toolmaster is the result of solving problems we experienced at CTI in making tools with the other grinding systems,” Beadel says. “Our primary focus was to create a machine that would produce high-quality cutting tools with low maintenance and downtime. One advantage we had during development was that we continued to be an active manufacturer of cutting tools. That way we were able to perfect the machine’s design in production. If any process seemed too hard or slow or didn’t deliver the quality we needed, we found out immediately and went back to the drawing board. Now we have 22 Toolmasters running two shifts a day, five and sometimes six days a week.” 

At the time this article was written 33 Toolmasters had been sold and installed to manufacturers, including one high-volume manufacturer of center drills and other tools.

Design Features 

Among the Toolmaster’s features, accessibility was given the highest priority by providing doors that open 260° for cleaning its interior. In addition, the Toolmaster uses a profile rail system (rather than V-grooves used on ways and table guides) to eliminate metal-to-metal contact and friction.

Another of the system’s standard features is the cooling and environmental system, which is built in to maintain a lower footprint. Mist collection and coolant return systems are integrated and self-contained in one package. They are accessible for filter changes and the tank rolls out for quick cleaning. Although most users also have their own coolant filtration, the Toolmaster has a tri-baffle coolant system; and, for carbide or steel use the grinder’s tank can be replaced with a fresh tank once a month or as needed. An offline operation is a centrifuge coolant cleaning system.

Grinding wheel choice for the Toolmaster is generally dictated by personal preference and the nature of the application. RTI reports that with computer numerical control diamond wheel life is about 100 times that of conventional grinding wheels and, according to Beadel, “It really doesn’t matter which wheel is used. We usually recommend buying a diamond wheel based on price. With the Toolmaster you can use a less expensive wheel and still get good results.” 

R.T. Industries’ Toolmaster CNC grinder was developed over an 8-year, in-production period to eliminate toolmaker gripes about existing machines and to incorporate a wish list of desired features. Primary thrust of the development was to allow easy access for maintenance.

Intuitive Operation

The Toolmaster is designed so that its operation is intuitive and simple to understand, according to Beadel. 

“When a toolmaker works with the Toolmaster it makes sense,” Beadel says. “There are a number of good grinding systems on the market, of course, but when it comes to cutting tools, we believe the concepts we developed are true to the form. The Toolmaster is designed to let a toolmaker think and work the way he wants to.” 

Designed For Low Downtime

Many of the Toolmaster’s features are designed to reduce downtime for maintenance and eliminate the need for on-site technical support.

“Based on our years of in-production usage, we built this machine to require minimal maintenance,” Beadel says. “For example, if a motor change is required, it can be done right on the shop floor without a technical support representative present. All the connections are accessible and easy to service.”

Another item on Beadel’s wish list was to have a machine that permitted fast and easy changeover. 

“Usually in the cutting tool industry lot sizes for center drills and similar tool types are 120-150 units,” Beadel explains. “Most other tools such as 1/2” endmills are produced in lot sizes of 500-1,000. Because of this kind of production flow, and the large variety of tool types produced, tearing down and setting up the grinding machine is a frequent, continuing activity. We designed the Toolmaster’s accessibility and maintainability especially with this type of operation in mind. 

Future Development

Although Beadel has incorporated most of his wish-list items into the current version of the Toolmaster, the system is not yet a finished product. One new development, for example, has been the addition of an integrated robot loading system.

“Frankly, I doubt the machine will ever be completely finished,” Beadle comments. “We’re using the Toolmaster in production and we listen to our customers. If we or they find new things to add to our wish list, we’ll add them.”