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| Transor Case Studies - A-1 Lapping |
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The Old Process Of Lapping Takes On A New Dimension
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For over four generations, A-1 Lapping (Rockford, IL) has provided contract lapping and grinding services. The philosophy of delivering quality finishes, rapid turnaround and competitive pricing is carried on today by Jason Greenberg, the owner’s great-grandson. A-1 has established a customer base in diverse industries – aerospace, medical, hydraulic and automotive where a run can be a single piece part up to a million.
Initially, A-1 was dedicated to single-side lapping only, but growing customer demand for finer surface finishes, closer thickness tolerances and increased parallelism of lapped parts has spurred the Greenberg family to continually invest in technology to keep up with these increasingly stringent customer requirements. In addition, the materials that A-1 laps are also diverse, ranging from cast iron and stainless steels to powdered metal, bronze, carbides and even plastics
“We have always kept current in the technology of our business,” stated Jason Greenberg. “It was a natural progression to expand from single to double sided lapping. That provided us greater control and consistency of product finishes, flatness and parallelism.” Greenberg continued to discuss how there has been a leap forward in technology even in the last couple years. “A couple years ago we became aware of the process of fine grinding, or flat honing as it is also called. I knew we had to do some research into this new technology.”
It was at that time that Mr. Greenberg discovered Stahli USA (Lake Zurich, IL). They discovered that with the Stahli fine grinding technology, parts could be processed at a much faster pace with just as good as, if not better than tolerances you normally achieve with conventional lapping. In addition to the increased cycle/production times, other benefits emerged. “It’s also a much cleaner process,” stated Greenberg. “Generally a lapped part has a dull grey matte finish to it and it is an overall relatively dirty process, where a fine grinder processes the parts with a much more reflective surface finish while still holding the tolerances that you normally only see from conventional lapping.”
A couple years ago, A-1 made the investment in the new Stahli model 1205. It was to be the first machine of this size to be installed in the U.S. While waiting for delivery, Stahli installed from their shop a smaller Model 705 so A-1 could get started in utilizing this process and do training while waiting for delivery of the larger machine.
Filtration Makes The Biggest Difference In Performance
With the installation of the Model 705 from Stahli, A-1 also purchased the Transor Filter (Transor Filter USA, Elk Grove Village, IL) lab unit that Stahli had in house. “Without knowing any better at the time, we were unaware of the type of filtration that it provided,” stated Greenberg. When the new Model 1205 arrived, A-1 opted for a filtration unit that promised 20-micron filtration as opposed to Transor’s One Micron Filtration (OMF) absolute. Immediately A-1 noticed that the surface finish and tolerances on the processed parts wasn’t nearly as good. Also, the surface finishes on the Model 1205 were not as good as those on the Model 705 with the Transor. In addition, wheel dressing and cycle times were significantly longer.
It became apparent that the difference in the performance of the 2 machines was not the machine at all, but the filtration units. Greenberg commented, “When we purchased the 1205 from a cost standpoint, we made the mistake of trying another filter manufacturer. Without knowing what we were getting into, we had the machine in house for approximately 3 weeks before we decided we had made a mistake. We sent that filter back and contacted Transor and had one of their units in here within about 6 weeks."
Clean Oil The Key To Success
A-1 discovered that holding the tolerances that were capable with the Stahli machines and having clean and consistent temperature oil is of the utmost importance. The Transor unit comes with a chiller that achieves plus or minus .2-degree range consistency. “Just a few degrees temperature change when you’re attempting to hold a plus or minus 50 millionths tolerance can throw the part out of specification,” commented Greenberg. “Even after consistent 12 to 16 hour runs, the Transor was able to keep the honing oil at a consistent temperature and also extremely clean.”
A-1 discovered many additional benefits with their Transor. There are virtually no consumables involved. Greenberg stated that with the other filter they had prior to the Transor on the 1205, the amount of consumables were significant. The older paper bed style filter with a roll were utilizing $150 and $200 worth of consumables every other shift. “With the Transor,” he said, “the elements are cleaned automatically and all the debris is placed into a bag for easy disposal. We replace the weekly and the cost is only about $20. So the consumable costs were not even in the same ballpark between the two filters.”
Greenberg also mentioned grinding wheel life and performance as part of the consumable savings. “Any time that you have much cleaner oil going to the grinding wheels, that’s that much less debris that’s going across the surface of those wheels. So you do see less wheel wear over time with a much more accurate filtration system.”
Cleanliness Adds Value To The Finished Product
One of the challenges with conventional lapping, Greenberg mentioned, is that the parts tend to come out with a dull grey finish. With the Transor System attached to the Stahli machines, A-1 finds they are often able to process the parts without an additional wash process. The one micron filtered oil in the Transor also acts as a rust preventative. “The oil is flawlessly clean throughout the day,” said Greenberg. “Even after running thousands of parts with unbelievable amounts of stock removal, the oil stayed consistently clean the entire time. The parts come out of the machine so clean, that you’re able to package them and send them to the customer as is. That is a major benefit to us…and to the customers."
The Future Of A-1 Looks Bright
Jason Greenberg takes his great grandfather’s commitment to quality seriously. His old saying is if you provide a quality work piece, the rest of it will just take care of itself. Ten years ago, A-1 decided to become ISO 9000 certified. One of the first contract lapping manufacturers to undergo this certification, they felt they would demonstrate to their customers this quality commitment.
Greenberg concluded, “When you come to A-1, you can expect to directly talk with a person, you can expect that your parts are going to be run to the highest quality standards that they possibly could be, you can expect that it will be done at a fair price, and you can expect that it will be done with rapid turnaround. Our investment in technology enables us to make and keep these promises.”
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