Forest City Gear has expanded its capabilities for the hard finishing of smaller diameter gears with particularly tight ID and length tolerances with the addition of a Usach 100-T4 ID/OD Grinder with 4-station turret.
While the new Usach can accommodate parts with diameters as large as 450 millimeters (17.71 inches), its ability to deliver exceptional grinding performance for gears with smaller diameters made from difficult-to-machine hard materials made it ideal for the types of projects Forest City Gear specializes in, according to Forest City Gear Director of Operations Jared Lyford.
“Where in the past we might have outsourced this work, we’re now able to take on even the most challenging ID grinding configurations in-house and maintain tighter control of the process,” Lyford said. “It’s an amazingly versatile, highly productive machine.”
The Usach features a 4-station turret to speed changeover between three ID grinding spindles, an OD grinding spindle, and a probe unit for in-process inspection of axial length, roundness, feature size, and other critical part characteristics. An on-board rotary diamond dresser enables Forest City Gear to use dressable CBN grinding wheels for profile grinding of radius angles and other special features.
For more than 60 years, family-owned Forest City Gear in Roscoe, Illinois, has been one of the gear industry’s leading sources for the development, manufacture, and inspection of the highest quality gears for use in applications including medical devices, motorcycles, airplanes, automation, and even the Mars Curiosity Rover.
For more information: www.forestcitygear.com
