Cut-off wheel (hereafter referred as wheel) is major segment of the
Abrasive wheel business all over the world including India. In
earlier days performance of Cut Off Wheels was ascertained on the
basis of how long a wheel was used. Over a period wheel
manufacturers realized that this is not correct method of rating
the wheel. Then new procedure of testing the wheel was laid. In this new procedure an operator was trained and he was supposed
to carry out the tests. Though new procedure adopted improved the
rating criteria, it was not foolproof due to the fact that it was
dependent on operator to operator, operator’s skill, his mood and
fatigue developed.Since cutting operation was manual, operator
related variables were involved. In a given test or repeated test cutting parameter such as head
load applied was not consistent, it varied from operator to
operator. It was not consistent even for the same operator.This
resulted in to non repeatability in the test results obtained. It
was difficult to compare the performance of the different wheels. Since there wasn’tany physical measurement of head load applied,
during test and it was left to Operator’s skill/ discretion. The Automated Cut off wheel Tester was developed to overcome all
the problems faced in Manual Testing. Automated wheel tester has
additional advantage that it logs the parameters such as Head load
set, head load applied, power drawn. Time for test etc. This tester is built to standardize the Test procedure/s. QC evaluation of product consistency & product quality. This can prove to be very much helpful in new product development. This equipment is designed to evaluate product life & it’s free
cutting ability. Cut-off wheel tester was built so as to simulate the manual
operation. In the manual cutting, there is a continuous force given to the
wheel by the arm of the operator to give head load to the cut off
wheel. It is very essential to create these situations to simulate the
field conditions. All the features of manual operation are included in this machine
to make it more human in operation. |