CDT and ANCA Collaboration Benefits Grinding Lab Customers
Continental Diamond Tool has added an ANCA TX7 Linear to its Grinding Lab in New Haven, Indiana, allowing CDT, ANCA, and customers to work together on application-specific grinding development.
In the video below, CDT President Nick Viggiano and ANCA Americas President Russell Riddiford discuss how bringing different perspectives together can help customers reach a proven solution faster.
Read the article or watch the video below to learn how the new TX7 Linear is expanding opportunities for precision grinding operations to fine-tune their processes.
CDT and ANCA Come Together for Precision Grinding Customers
There is no one-size-fits-all grinding wheel. Bond type, abrasive, grit size, wheel geometry, grinding parameters, coolant delivery, workpiece material, and machine dynamics can all affect performance.
The TX7 Linear gives CDT another production-capable platform for evaluating those variables under controlled conditions and applying what we learn directly to customer applications.
As Viggiano explains:
“The reason we chose the TX7 Linear is because of how robust it is and all the capabilities it gives us, not just for round tools, but for grinding and R&D work for customers across our industry.”
CDT has equipped the machine with sensors that enable our engineers to collect more detailed data during testing and better understand the grinding forces at play.
When Grinding Wheel and Machine Expertise Come Together
ANCA brings deep knowledge of the machine platform, its capabilities, and how it performs across different grinding applications. CDT brings expertise in superabrasive wheel design, grinding behavior, and the many wheel variables that can be adjusted to improve performance. The customer brings the application requirements, production goals, and real-world process challenges.
Together, those perspectives create a more complete view of the grinding process and help identify whether improvements are most likely to come from the machine setup, wheel design, operating parameters, or a combination of factors.
Riddiford describes the benefit this way:
“Ultimately, ANCA and CDT working together will help customers reach a solution faster, with a process that’s been validated using real grinding data.”
For customers, that can mean fewer trial-and-error adjustments on the shop floor, better starting parameters, and more confidence that a proposed wheel and process have already been evaluated together.
It can also reduce the amount of development work that has to take place on production equipment, where machine availability, operator time, material, and downtime all carry a cost.
From Wheel Recommendation to Tested Solution
Grinding wheel recommendations are often built on past process experience, established specifications, and accumulated engineering knowledge. Those are valuable starting points, but testing provides a better indication of how a wheel will perform in the field.
Riddiford sees CDT’s Grinding Lab as an opportunity to move beyond recommendation alone:
“It allows you to move from just providing a grinding wheel based on historical data or knowledge to providing the opportunity to test the grinding wheels, test the bonds or grit sizes, and then present your customer with a proven solution with real grinding data.”
Depending on the application, CDT can use grinding trials to evaluate:
New bond systems
Diamond or CBN grit sizes
Wheel geometry and core design
Grinding parameters
Material removal and cutting behavior
Wheel wear
Part quality and surface requirements
Overall process performance
The results can help refine the wheel specification, the grinding parameters, or both.
A Platform Built for a Variety of Applications
The TX7 Linear was selected in part because of the range of grinding work it can support.
Its precision, rigidity, and flexibility allow our team to test different wheel sizes, part geometries, materials, and applications on a platform that is already widely used by manufacturers.
As Riddiford notes:
“You can do big parts, little parts, big wheels, small wheels. It’s all about providing your customers with a perfect solution.”
That flexibility makes the machine useful for both internal product development and customer projects involving new materials, process optimization, difficult applications, new machine installations, and more.
It will also support continued development of CDT superabrasive technologies, including resin bond and EVO™ Hybrid Bond grinding wheels.
Expanding CDT’s Grinding Lab Capabilities
CDT’s Grinding Lab opened in 2018 with two testing platforms: a WALTER HELITRONIC tool grinder and a Supfina finishing machine. Since then, the lab has expanded in both space and capability. In 2024, CDT expanded its New Haven facility by 70,000 sq. ft., creating room for a larger Grinding Lab and additional specialized testing capabilities as customer needs and grinding technologies evolve.
The addition of the ANCA TX7 Linear and a HAAS VF3 brings the lab to four machine platforms, giving CDT more flexibility to replicate customer applications, test grinding wheel performance, and develop processes across a broader range of materials and grinding conditions.
CDT’s continued investment in grinding technology is a sign of where the company is headed, as Riddiford notes:
“What you’ve done here is a testament to your growth and where CDT sees the future. You’re willing to invest in the technology so that you can help your customers advance to the next level.”
For CDT, the TX7 Linear adds value as a widely used platform our customers already know, with ANCA’s committed to supporting our team’s testing and application development work.
As Viggiano explains:
“ANCA has always been responsive, and their machines are everywhere in the field. Having that platform in our lab makes it that much easier for us to work together with our customers and help optimize their processes.”
Put the CDT Grinding Lab to Work on Your Application
If you are developing a new grinding process, evaluating a difficult material, troubleshooting an application, or looking to improve wheel life, cut, quality, or overall cost, CDT’s Grinding Lab can help.
Contact CDT to discuss your application and determine whether Grinding Lab testing or process development could help you reach a solution faster.
-
CDT uses the TX7 Linear for grinding wheel research, application development, process testing, and customer-specific grinding trials. It allows our engineers to evaluate wheel designs and grinding variables under controlled conditions.
-
For applications that can be replicated in the CDT Grinding Lab, testing can be performed before customer production trials. This can help narrow wheel specifications, establish starting parameters, and reduce trial-and-error work on the production floor.
-
Testing may include bond systems, abrasive type, grit size, wheel geometry, grinding parameters, material removal, wheel wear, part quality, and overall process performance.
-
ANCA brings detailed knowledge of the machine platform, while CDT brings expertise in superabrasive grinding wheels and applications. Combining those capabilities with the customer’s process requirements can help develop and validate a more complete, turnkey grinding solution.
-
Yes. CDT works with customers on new applications, difficult materials, process optimization, wheel evaluation, and other grinding development projects. Contact CDT to discuss whether your application is a good fit for lab testing.
