The Swiss company Rollomatic — represented in UK by Coventry-based Advanced Grinding Solutions Ltd — is a leading manufacturer of multi-axis CNC grinding machines used for the production of rotary cutting tools of all kinds and for non-round tools such as punches.

To showcase its range of machines and associated products, Rollomatic has created a permanent on-line virtual show called Rollomatic Digital World. This allows engineers to see all of the company’s machines, to watch videos of them and to understand the latest advantages that Rollomatic brings to cutting tool makers.

It is also possible to join with a Rollomatic technical specialist online, to discuss applications and solutions with them on a one-to-one basis.

While Rollomatic is recognised worldwide for production solutions used to make small cutting tools from 0.1mm in diameter, the company’s GrindSmart machines can produce cutters up to 20mm in diameter — and every Rollomatic machine comes with a three-year parts and labour warranty as standard.

For the automatic loading of tools a variety of solutions is offered; these include high-speed robot loaders that can load 20mm-diameter tool blanks in around 8sec — and 1,000 tools can be stored in pallets for unmanned running throughout entire shifts. The automatic changing of grinding wheels is also catered for.

Meanwhile, Rollomatic’s ShapeSmart machines are designed for the high-performance cylindrical infeed ‘peel’ grinding of cutting tool blanks such as drills, form tools, reamers, end mills, and punches. The ShapeSmart NP3 and NP5 variants, which offer tool concentricity after grinding of under 0.001mm, use a grinding process known as ‘pinch and peel’ for the grinding of tool blanks or punches with diameters from 0.025 to 25mm.

Another application for these machines is the grinding of core or injector pins used by the injection moulding industry. These are usually made from M2 steel or high-strength H13, as well as other tool steels.

Rollomatic’s range of high-precision machines is completed by the company’s LaserSmart 501, which features simultaneous five-axis interpolation for the very-high-precision laser machining of ultra-hard materials such as PCD, CVD, MCD and natural diamond.

The LaserSmart 501 processes multiple operations such as cutting-edge generation, chip-breaker machining and cylindrical land machining in one set-up. The Rollomatic LaserSmart machines can produce sharp cutting edges with a radius of under 1um, as well as defined radii (of 3um or 6um, for example) for increased cutter life.