Superior Toot Service, Inc., Wichita, Kansas, has recently installed its fourth ANCA CNC grinding machine and is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The firm specializes in industrial tool and cutter grinding, manufacturing and resharpening.

Founded in 1987 by Steve and Ellen Shofler, Superior Tool Service was started in the family's garage at the request of a customer.

Today, the company is in a custom built 6000-sq.-ft. facility (with a drive-up window) and features the new 11-axis ANCA CNC grinder with a CLX pallet loader ( the second one in the nation) as well as three other ANCA CNC grinding machines with 7 to 10 axis capabilities.

The new ANCA features upgraded software and new capabilities that will help Superior Tool Service serve a customer working with composites.

The shop also includes a wide variety of conventional grinders (22), a surface grinder, Starrett comparator and assorted support equipment. Tolerances can be maintained and measured to 0.0001.

"We are successful because of our great customers and our dedicated staff," noted Steve Shofler, a 32-year industry veteran. "We enjoy taking on the customers' challenges."

Ellen Shofler commented "Its been a fast 20 years. Our talents complement each other quite well ... he is the tooling expert and I have the ac count] counting/finance background. Hiring good people has also been key to our success."

Ellen is also 2nd VP of the Wichita Manufacturers Association, a 90-year-old group dedicated to supporting area manufacturing.
The company can modify, sharpen, size and radius a wide range of Hi speed and Carbide cutting tools including: end mills, mill cutters, comer rounding tools, gear hobbs, breaches, taps, reamers, piloted reamers, drills, step drills, countersinks, lathe tools and form tools.

Superior Tool Services' manufacturing capabilities include Hi Speed and Carbide end mills, line reamers, broaches, chamfer tools, porting tools, lathe tools and combination tools that do 2 or more operations at once, thereby saving the customer time and money. The company also produces prototypes.

The company's 14 staff has a broad knowledge of materials that customers use, everything from acrylic to Hastelloy and they modify clearance angles on their tools to match the material for longer tool life. The company motto is "Our tools are so sharp you can cut your costs with them!"

Coatings for tools (for longer life and higher productivity) are also offered. They include: TiN, TiCN, TiAlN, ZrN, CrN and AlTN.

Superior Tool Service serves customers throughout midAmerica in a wide range of industries including: aircraft, marine, medical equipment, defense, aerospace, computers and high-performance automotive.

Based on single-piece frame cast from polymer composite material, Genesis(TM) 130H can be installed and re-located with no special lifting equipment. Direct-drive spindle motors eliminate need for mechanical adjustments, while cam-driven double gripper loader enables part load/unload times of 2 sec. Work area is isolated from machine frame to minimize thermal expansion from contact with hot chips. Stainless steel cutting chamber with steep inclination ensures that chips fall clear of work area.

Rochester, New York, February 16, 2006-- Gleason's new Genesis(TM) 130H CNC Vertical Hobbing Machine features a revolutionary new design that optimizes dry machining, significantly reduces floor space requirements and greatly improves cycle times.

The 130H Hobber is the first in a new family of gear production equipment from Gleason called Genesis(TM). All of the Genesis machines share a common platform: a single-piece frame cast from an advanced polymer composite material, which can be made faster, more accurately and with inherently more rigidity than conventional cast-iron assemblies. This common platform design also ensures a small, compact machine footprint and enables the user to install and re-locate the machine with no special lifting equipment or special foundations.

While the 130H Hobber can accommodate wet cutting processes, it is particularly well-suited for dry machining. The work area is completely isolated from the machine frame to minimize thermal expansion from contact with hot chips, and a stainless steel cutting chamber with steep inclination ensures that chips fall completely clear of the work area.
The 130H Hobber is equipped with an innovative new mechanical cam-driven double gripper loader fully integrated into the machine. As a result, costly non-productive time can be cut to a minimum, with part load/unload times as short as two seconds.

Unlike conventional hobbing machines, the Genesis 130H utilizes a new, patent-pending hob drive system to eliminate complicated mechanical and hydraulic clamping systems. Instead a simple "D-Drive" system enables the spindle to transmit more torque, with less runout, and at the same time accommodate the use of larger diameter hobs for greater performance and longer tool life.

The 130H also features direct-drive spindle motors, which further reduces setup and machining times by eliminating the need for mechanical adjustments and change gears. Higher acceleration/deceleration rates and increased torque, combined with faster axis motions reduce non-cutting time between cycles and increase overall productivity during machining.

Other significant features include:

o An Easy Access Service Module that consolidates hydraulics, lubrication and pneumatics into one location.

o Optional on-board chamfering and deburring capability.

o Availability of the latest SIEMENS or FANUC controls and the latest Gleason software running in a true Windows[R] environment.

o The chip conveyor may be located from either the side or rear of the machine to meet any cell/system arrangement.

Gleason Corporation is a world leader in the development, manufacture and sale of gear production machinery and related equipment. The Company's products are used by customers in automotive, truck, aircraft, agriculture, construction, power tool and marine industries and by a diverse set of customers serving various industrial equipment markets. Gleason has manufacturing operations in Rochester, New York; Rockford, Illinois; Dayton, Ohio; Plymouth, England; Munich and Ludwigsburg, Germany; Bangalore; India, Studen, Switzerland; and Harbin, China and has sales and service offices throughout the North and South America, Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region.

The CNC router machine cuts in three directions at once. The precision of the router’s cutting relies on the design software, software that provides a two-fold advantage to the router operator.

To begin with, the CAD software gives the operator of the CNC router machine the ability to create the design that will be cut into the solid plate.

After the operator creates the design, that same operator relies on the computer to send the proper operating instructions. The instructions from the software send signals to the router motor drive. These signals, termed tool path files, allow the motor controls to direct the precise motion of the router drive system.

The router bits perform the cutting of the CNC router machine. These bits are similar to drill bits. As mentioned above, the cutting can proceed along three different axes simultaneously. The CNC controls cause the movements of the drill bits to take place in small and precise increments.

The cutting along the x-axis moves from front to back. The cutting along the y-axis moves from left to right. The cutting along the z-axis moves up and down. The ability of the CNC router machine to move in 3 directions at once leads to the creation of interesting patterns and shapes.

The use of a CNC router machine guarantees savings in time and money. The CNC router machine produces each of its elaborately shaped products in a very small amount of time. In addition, the CNC router machine eliminates the need for an employee to stand at the router. A computer controls the operation of the router. Either the computer linked to the router can stand adjacent to the manufacturing devices, or it can sit at the desktop of the operator.

In other words, the operator of the CNC router machine can sit at his or her desk and direct the movement of the device that holds the router bits. The operator maintains control of this device, a machine part that is called a gantry.

The benefits of a CNC router machine increase steadily, spurred in large part by the increasing need for the manufacture of prototypes. Prototypes are test versions of a product. The creation of prototypes provides the manufacturer with a way to detect those places where an error in production could occur.

The precision of the router allows the operator to detect the scale of any possible manufacturing error. The computer can inspect a prototype and then alert the operator to the precise degree of expected changes in the routed product. The benefits of this precision are magnified by the potential for offline simulation of manufacturing processes. Without access to such precision, the manufacturer would not be able to use the creation of prototypes by the CNC router machine. Thanks to the precision of the router, the manufacturer can use the prototype to plan the needed strategy for an efficient full-scale production.

The CNC router machine enables manufactures to utilize the latest technologies in order to achieve their business needs more effectively.