Worm-gears can be found on material handling equipment, machine tools, power transmissions, conveyors, farm implements, treadmills, food processing equipment, and a host of other industrial and commercial products. Worm-gears are typically casehardened alloy steel which affords excellent toughness and durability.

In order to achieve optimum gear contact geometry, the worms are ground to size after heat-treating. In this particular case study, a creep-feed grinding process was employed with aluminum oxide and ceramic blend Norton wheels. Grinding is performed in two stages with 0.019 inches removed in the roughing pass and 0.001 inches removed in finish grinding. The wheel speed is 9500 SFPM. Recently this Benz Oil customer purchased a machine tool that prohibited the use of sulfur containing metalworking oils due to concern about yellow-metal compatibility. As a result, Benz Oil was requested to provide a sulfur and chlorine free cutting oil substitute for all of their metalworking applications, including grinding.

Benz Oil visited the customer to assess the application and determine the feasibility of utilizing BenzGrind HP series products. Based upon calculations performed by Dr. Peter Kotvis, Benz Oil's Director of Research and Development, the worm-gear grinding operation not only should have been able to utilize BenzGrind HP, the customer might also be able to increase their metal removal rate by doing so.

In August of this year the worm-gear grinders were converted to BenzGrind HP 32. According to the Operations Manager they have been able to increase feed rates from 2 FPM to 8 FPM without sustaining metallurgical damage due to grinding burn experienced with the sulfur-based fluid. This of course has lead to significant increases in productivity.

While replacing a heavily fortified sulfurized cutting fluid with sulfur-free HP series oils may not always yield equivalent gains in productivity, the potential payback from working with your Benz Oil Account Manager on your metalworking applications can be substantial.

To find out more about BenzGrind HP series oils contact your Benz Oil Account Manager at (414) 442-2900.

top