Integrity Saw & Tool Inc., located in Wisconsin, purchased the Vollmer CHX 840 circular saw blade sharpening machine with Vollmer HS automatic loading station to increase production capacity to meet the needs of new pallet manufacturing customers. Since its purchase in 2019, the productivity of CHX 840 has increased by 60%, enabling unmanned production and improving blade quality.

Integrity Saw & Tool Inc. was established in the basement in 1986 as a saw blade sharpening, high-speed steel drill bit and end mill reshaping company. Steady growth has led to the migration to 13,000 square feet. The factory was established in 1998, a sales engineer who eventually owned the company was hired, and the first Vollmer CNC grinder was invested in 2000, which put the company on a new development track.

"We have two old CNC machines and several manual machines for high-speed hacksaws-all these machines are working hard to meet our growing demand," said company boss Paul Reetz. "We looked at the available machines and selected Vollmer Akemat machines because they belong to different categories.

After the first machine Akemat B4, Akemat U10 and B10 were purchased in 2005, and Akemat U10 was purchased in 2006. These machines were purchased to sharpen TCT saw blades, while the existing manual machines were used to manufacture and repair high-speed steel saw blades. In May 2019, the company purchased Vollmer CHX840 HS.

Buying these machines helps the company continue to work during the economic slowdown. Reetz said: "The jagged side of the business has grown for nearly 10 years, but unfortunately, the 2008-09 global economic recession destroyed many small businesses." "As the number of people investing in houses and real estate decreased, many of our Circular saw blade customers have witnessed their business collapse. However, the production of circular tools such as drills, end mills, milling cutters and special tools used in the manufacturing industry has withstood the market environment much better. Industrial circular Tools currently account for 80% of our business."

With the COVID pandemic, the circular tool business in the manufacturing industry has slowed down, but even so, consumers are still investing in their homes, and this demand means that “the sawing sector of our business benefits from it again.”

With the millions of wooden pallets circulating in the U.S. food industry, Integrity Saw has partnered to regrind TCT saw blades for the pallet manufacturer, which plans to build multiple manufacturing plants in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico—each plant Both can produce a pallet. minute.

"We knew we needed a new machine with automation to meet the demand," Reetz said. "Vollmer Akemat machines are excellent. In addition to regular preventive maintenance, they have been running every day since they were purchased."

COVID may temporarily slow down the growth time of pallet production, but Integrity Saw, with its new 5-axis VOLLMER CHX840 HS, can well support its new customers by machining the tooth surface and tooth top in one clamping operation. The CHX840 is equipped with an HS automation solution that enables Integrity Saw to load and process 28 blades unattended. Reetz said that because customers will operate 24/7 and each shift in each factory requires a new saw blade, Reetz said the opportunities for Integrity Saw & Tool are huge.

With the arrival of CHX840 HS, Integrity is able to rapidly increase the stress relief and re-grinding of 400 TCT blades every week from May 2019 to April 2020.

Integrity Saw conducted a feasibility study on the blade with Vollmer when it began to contract with Vollmer for existing and aging Vollmer Akemat machines. The 18-inch (457 mm) TCT saw blade has 70 teeth per saw, and each saw blade can be reground up to seven times before being replaced or re-headed. Before the arrival of CHX840 HS, Integrity Saw performed 4 operations on 3 machines to complete a saw blade in 75 minutes-this processing time does not include setup and conversion. The process chain includes stress relief, transfer to the Akemat tooth surface grinding machine, then to the tooth top grinding machine, and then grinding the "backlash" radius to reduce the cutting force on each tooth.  

"In terms of programming time and repeated settings, each blade requires approximately 90 minutes. Before the CHX840 completes all tooth and face grinding in one setup, the Vollmer CHX840 HS reduced this time by 60 with only one stress relief operation. % Above to 35 minutes.

With two skilled operators running four Vollmer Akemat machines and CHX840 HS, the company's weekly output has doubled. According to Reetz, operators used to process 40 to 50 TCT blades per day on Akemat machines-adding VOLLMER CHX840 HS means that we can now regrind more than 100 blades per day. “We work from 5 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, and the HS automation system allows us to set up the Vollmer CHX840 machine in the afternoon, which can process up to 28 table saws unattended throughout the night,” he said. "If we adopt the shift mode, we can run Vollmer CHX840 24 hours a day to get more capacity. However, we are already considering the next Vollmer purchase."

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