The Vollmer VHybrid processing end mills at Guhring UKWhen it comes to cutting tools, the Guhring brand is synonymous with innovation and pushing the boundaries of convention. Driving this culture is a management structure that provides its 48 worldwide subsidiaries with complete autonomy.
Guhring UK has led the charge on several fronts, from powering its Birmingham facility with solar PV to investing in a
Vollmer VHybrid 260 grinding and erosion machine.
Like many of the world’s leading cutting tool brands, Guhring has an enduring partnership with Vollmer. using the machine tool manufacturer’s grinding and wire erosion machines worldwide to produce its premium carbide and PCD cutting tools. At its ‘state of the art’ 60,000ft
2 UK factory, Guhring UK manufactures a comprehensive range of standard and special cutting tools. It has dedicated PCD and solid carbide production departments and more than £5 million of cutting tools in stock for next-day delivery.
Profiling and finishing PCD-tipped toolsUnique in its approach, Guhring manufactures its own brand of five-axis grinding centres for some of its tool production. This is complemented by advanced technology from Vollmer, and at its UK site, two Vollmer QWD750 wire erosion machines are employed for profiling and finishing PCD-tipped tools. The Guhring UK team attended the
Vollmer VDays event in Germany in 2022 to investigate new opportunities, and it was the VHybrid that piqued their interest. With resource allocation directed to different projects in a post-Covid-19 world, an eventual change of management at Guhring UK recently re-ignited the interest in the VHybrid technology.
The culmination of longstanding employee Gary Field taking up the role of production manager and the recognition of new PCD tooling opportunities both sparked the interest in advancing PCD processing technology. Vollmer UK’s managing director Martyn Cross said: “The existing Guhring technology is very accurate for rapidly processing flat profile PCD tools, but it doesn’t lend itself to the next generation of developments the company wants to sell.”
Discussing the route to acquiring the VHybrid 260, Guhring UK’s Alan Pearce said: “We sent Vollmer some PCD step drills to trial on the VHybrid, and this was followed by some ball nose tools for a prestigious customer – the results were exceptional.”
Mr Field explained: “Guhring has a well-established relationship with Vollmer. So, we recognise the quality, service, technology and the prestige – all major factors influencing our decision. Last year, my job role changed to production manager, giving me oversight of our PCD department. I spoke with Alan about our future direction and what we needed to keep moving forward. We want to develop new product lines, offer more diversity to customers and have a more expansive range of products. With the new VHybrid, we can immediately target several areas, with micro-drills being a priority for the electronics, medical and miniature industry sectors.”
Mr Pearce added: “We have never had disc erosion before, so we have never been able to machine solid PCD tools, PCD tools with blades through the centre of the tool, or tools with more complex geometries. Additionally, the VHybrid provides the flexibility to grind and erode all these in a single machine.”
Installed in November 2024, the Vollmer VHybrid 260 has already revolutionised shopfloor operations, despite Guhring still being on a learning curve. Mr Pearce continued: “The VHybrid enables us to combine multiple operations into a single machine. Rather than grinding a tool diameter, wire eroding, and grinding drill points, we can combine all three operations into a single machine. When you combine this with the multiple machine operations, production planning and meeting lead times, it can be a challenge. The VHybrid has alleviated all of this and has proven transformational in the short time we have had the machine.”
Quantifiable benefitsGuhring has a prestigious list of OEM, Tier One and sub-contract customers. For some of its automotive OEM clients requiring bespoke PCD step drills, PCD Drill Relap and PCD milling and reaming tools, Guhring has a long list of quantifiable benefits from the VHybrid. As early examples of savings derived from transferring tools from existing processes to the VHybrid, a PCD Drill Relap tool has moved from a two-machine 1hr 25min process to a 29min process on the VHybrid, a 70% cycle time saving with additional set-up savings. Production of another PCD Drill Relap tool has fallen from 1hr 30min to 21min.
A PCD Step Drill requiring precision OD grinding on the company’s Studer machine has fallen from three operations to two, with the VHybrid being responsible for slashing cycle times from over 5hr to 1hr 30min. Another PCD Step Drill has seen processing times fall from 2hr 25min to just 30min, with another that required point erosion and a step, falling from 3hr on two machines to just 36min on the VHybrid. The dramatic cycle time savings do not include the multiple machine setups and changeover times that are also being eliminated by the VHybrid.
Despite the cycle time and set-up savings, the VHybrid also proves its credentials in like-for-like comparisons against Guhring’s existing Vollmer QWD wire erosion machines. On bespoke 10mm two-flute and a three-flute 19mm diameter PCD milling tools that were both previously processed in a single setup on the QWD 750 wire erosion machine, the VHybrid has slashed production times from 2hr 45min to 1hr 17min and from 1hr 15 min to 38min for the 10mm tool.
Boundless opportunitiesThe Vollmer VHybrid 260 opens up boundless opportunities for Guhring UK. Thanks to its steady rest system, the machine enables the manufacture of tools with diameters as small as 0.2 to 0.3mm. This area has already been identified as having potential for significant growth.
Mr Cross said: “Guhring UK is the first company in the group to acquire this machine; other subsidiaries are already sending trial tools to the UK for samples. The machine is a technological shift. Ahead of the curve, the management team at Guhring UK invited Vollmer to meet its sales engineers. We presented the VHybrid and its capabilities, and they instantly recognised the potential for new tool development, quickly linking the machine capabilities to the challenges of their existing customers.”
The opportunities extend far beyond carbide and PCD micro tools; tools with PCD blades through the centre and solid brazed PCD tip tools can also be processed. Going beyond competitors' capabilities, the VHybrid 260 provides Guhring with the potential to erode nearly limitless geometries in PCD.
The Guhring UK production and sales teams are coordinating to develop bespoke tooling solutions for customers, with new product lines on the horizon. Capable of producing tools from 0.2 to 150mm in diameter with a surface finish of Ra0.05μm and an edge radius of 1.5μm, the VHybrid 260’s potential is limitless.
Built on the proven Vollmer VGrind kinematics with two vertically aligned spindles that pivot around the C-axis, the VHybrid ensures concentricity and precision. With the capability for up to eight grinding/eroding wheel packs, unmanned production, closed-loop tool, erosion and grinding wheel measuring and calibration, and automated gripper compensation, the VHybrid offers simplified levels of automation.
At the centre of this is the HC4 chain magazine. Capable of accommodating up to 160 shank tools or up to 40 HSK63 tools, the HC4 supports chaotic loading and processing of both types. Alluding to this, Mr Pearce said: “One of our biggest advantages with the VHybrid is the automation. With drill point tools, we could only run one tool at a time, but with the new VHybrid and its automation, I don’t have to worry about that. It will run unmanned throughout the day, at night, and at weekends.
He concluded: “We can load anything from one or two-offs alongside multiple batches of 10 or 20 tools, and the machine will run through the lot unsupervised. If we have a free evening, we can drop in a batch of carbide tools. It covers all the bases for our production. In a single batch, we can change tool and collet types and diameters and go from PCD to carbide. The flexibility is astounding. It is already making a huge impact on production and lead times, and this will only improve as our experience with the machine evolves.”