The C&B Machinery Story: Built on Family, Grown Through Precision

Friday, September 19, 2025 | News

In the world of manufacturing, every part tells a story. At C&B Machinery, our story begins not with machines, but with people.

Back in 1980, our founder Joe Parker set out on his own with a toolbox, a vision, and two little girls at home. He named the company after them, Courtney and Brooke, a daily reminder of why hard work and perseverance matter. Joe started small, refurbishing grinding machines one job at a time. What he didn’t know then was that this hands-on work would give C&B a foundation unlike any other: a deep, practical understanding of what makes grinding machines reliable, durable, and built to last.

Fast forward 45 years, and we’ve grown into a trusted name in precision grinding solutions. From our home in New Hudson, Michigan, we’ve expanded from rebuilding legacy machines to designing and building new, state-of-the-art equipment. Along the way, we’ve partnered with some of the world’s largest manufacturers, and we’ve kept the same focus that guided Joe at the very beginning: solving problems, supporting customers, and standing behind every machine we put our name on.

What makes C&B different isn’t just the technology, it’s the people behind it. Our team takes pride in combining decades of hands-on experience with the drive to innovate. Whether we’re breathing new life into a 50-year-old grinder or designing a brand-new system, our goal is simple: give our customers the confidence that their production line will run with accuracy, efficiency, and peace of mind.

Through all the changes in manufacturing, one thing hasn’t shifted. C&B Machinery is still a family-minded company at heart, committed to building relationships that last as long as our machines.

We’re excited to share our journey here on LinkedIn, stories of innovation, lessons learned on the shop floor, and the values that continue to guide us.

👉 Follow Us to learn more about how we’re shaping the future of precision grinding, one customer at a time!

C&B Secures Three Major Orders Across Key Industries

Wednesday, August 6, 2025 | News

C&B Machinery is proud to announce the award of three major projects across the automotive and aerospace sectors. These wins further demonstrate our leadership in delivering precision grinding solutions for high-performance manufacturing environments.

Project #1: Automotive Transmission Program

Vertical Clamp Bore Face Grinders for Automotive Program

C&B has been chosen by one of our leading automotive customers to design and build six (6) new dual-spindle vertical clamp bore face grinding machines. These orders will replace competitor machines delivering our latest machine design with a flexible Fanuc robot automation solution!

Project #2: Aerospace Braking System Components

Horizontal Park & Grind Double Disc for Aerospace Program

C&B has also secured an order with a Tier 1 aerospace supplier of airline braking system components. Supplying one of our specialized Park & Grind horizontal double disc grinding machines for large round parts. This equipment will support demanding production requirements and reflects C&B’s continued growth in the aerospace sector, where precision and performance are critical.

Project #3: Automotive Tier 1 Parts Supplier

Horizontal Thru-Feed Double Disc for Engine Components

Finally, C&B has been awarded a mechanical and electrical retrofit of a customer-supplied Besly through-feed horizontal double disc grinder. The rebuild will restore the machine to like-new condition with modernized controls, updated components, and enhanced reliability extending the value and lifespan of this customer’s existing asset while increasing production capabilities.

These recent orders highlight C&B Machinery’s commitment to delivering custom tailored solutions that improve production efficiency, accuracy, repeatability, and the long-term value for our diverse customer base across all sectors.

Contact Us today to learn how C&B Machinery can support your production needs now and into the future!

Double Disc Grinder Alignment

Monday, June 30, 2025 | News

The core goal of alignment is to ensure the grinding spindles, the dressing mechanism, and the part tooling/guides are all precisely positioned relative to each other. This ensures accurate grinding and consistent part quality. The process generally involves these key stages:

Machine Leveling: Before any alignment, the machine base must be perfectly level and stable, ensuring all leveling points have equal bearing. This provides a foundation for all subsequent alignments. Different machine styles (like C&B/Besly vs. Gardner) have specific leveling procedures and points to check.
Spindle Alignment (“Zeroing”): This critical step ensures the two opposing grinding spindles are perfectly parallel and coaxial (aligned on the same axis). This is often called a “6-point alignment”. It typically involves mounting special indicator blocks with backing plates on the spindles and using dial indicators to measure and adjust the spindle heads until they read zero deviation across multiple points (top/bottom, front/back). The adjustment method varies depending on the machine design (e.g., pivoting head vs. pivoting quill). Spindle alignment should generally only be done if spindles have been disturbed or if other troubleshooting fails.
Dresser Alignment: Once the spindles are zeroed, the dresser arm (which holds the diamond tool to true the grinding wheels) must be aligned parallel to one of the spindle faces (typically the left-hand one). This ensures the dresser creates a flat, true face on the grinding wheel that is perfectly parallel to the spindle’s axis. This involves mounting an indicator to the dresser arm and sweeping it across the aligned spindle’s backing plate, adjusting the dresser shaft mounting until the indicator reads zero deviation. Tool-mounted dressers align inherently with the tooling.
Tooling and Guide Indication: After the spindles and dresser are aligned, the part-holding tooling (like rotary carriers, swing arm blades, and paddle fixtures) and the entrance/exit guides must be aligned parallel to the spindle faces (again, typically the left-hand spindle). This ensures parts are presented correctly to the grinding wheels and guided properly through the grind zone. The method depends on the tooling type (carrier, swing arm, progressive, plunge) but generally involves using indicators mounted on the aligned spindle or straight edges to check and adjust the tooling’s position relative to the spindle face. Entrance guides should center the part, and exit guides should have clearance so they don’t influence the finished part.

Once these core alignments (Leveling, Spindle, Dresser, Tooling) are set to “zero,” specific “Head Settings” (slight tilts or openings) might be applied depending on the grinding method (shear vs. plunge) and tooling type to optimize stock removal and part quality.

Need Expert Assistance?

While this guide covers common troubleshooting steps, every grinding application has unique variables. Sometimes, persistent or complex issues require deeper expertise.

If you’re facing ongoing challenges with part quality or want to optimize your double disc grinding process further, the specialists at C&B Machinery are here to help. With decades of experience in disc grinding solutions, we can provide tailored support, service, and process development assistance.

Contact Us Today!

Phone: +1 248.264.9800

Email: sales@cbmachinery.com

Website:www.cbmachinery.com

Reshoring In Action

Monday, February 3, 2025 | News

Upgrading a 30” Double Disc Grinding Machine for a Major U.S. Automotive Manufacturer

C&B Machinery is proud to support the reshoring of a 30” Double Disc Grinding Machine for a major U.S. automotive manufacturer’s transmission plant. Originally installed in an overseas facility, this machine is now being brought back to the U.S., where it will be retooled, reautomated, and upgraded to enhance performance and efficiency for a Michigan-based production program.

Key Upgrades and Enhancements:

✅ Automatic Gaging System – The machine will be upgrade with a closed-looped gaging system to ensure precise, post-process measurements and improved quality control throughout the grinding process.

✅ Fanuc Robot Integration – We are replacing the existing complex automation system with a streamlined, standardized Fanuc robot, improving efficiency, reliability, and compatibility with the customer’s existing automation setup. This upgrade ensures a common automation platform across their plant, simplifying maintenance and operations.

✅ Updated Pump Back System – The machine will feature a redesigned pump back system, significantly reducing its overall footprint and saving valuable floor space in the facility while maintaining optimal coolant and swarf management.

✅ Flexible & Standardized Tooling – To enhance flexibility, the machine is being retooled to accommodate the manufacturer’s entire part family, utilizing common tooling already in use within this facility. This standardization reduces changeover times and increases production efficiency while aligning with the customer’s existing processes.

By implementing these upgrades, C&B Machinery is ensuring that this reshored grinding machine will not only meet the demands of the current production environment but also provide long-term value in efficiency, automation, and precision grinding.

We’re excited to see this machine back in action, supporting the expansion of U.S.-based automotive manufacturing! For more information, contact us today to learn how C&B Machinery can support your production needs.

sales@cbmachinery.com or +1 248.264.9800

New C&B Clamp Bore Grinding Machine Offers Simplified Design

Monday, October 7, 2024 | News

C&B Machinery (C&B) announced the completion of their newly redesigned Clamp Bore Face Grinding Machines. After months of planning, redesigning, and building the machines, C&B is excited to announce the latest CBVR-2F-2S model Clamp Bore Grinders.

Clamp bore face grinding machines are specifically designed for generating tighter squareness/perpendicularity tolerances for high-precision face grinding applications.

After numerous discussions, brainstorming sessions, and conversations with our customers, C&B embarked on the challenge of updating the design of their Clamp Bore Face Grinding Machine. The process took about a year with multiple redesigns throughout the process. Collaboration between Sales, Engineering, and Service Engineers helped achieve the final design.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS:

An ideal fit for tighter tolerances required for EV Drive Gears.
Overall Simplified Design
Reduced Cycle Time
Reduced Price
Reduced Downtime
Reduced Spare Parts
Reduced Swarf Buildup
Easier Access for Maintenance

We Consider Our Customers Our Partners

When asked about redesigning the C&B Clamp Bore Face Grinding Machine, President of C&B Machinery, Bill Tulpa, said the following:

Listening to our customers was the main push for us, but we also listened to our Service Engineers. We consider our customers our partners. We want honest feedback from them. They live with our machinery every day. We asked them what improvements would help them the most with uptime, maintenance, and overall production. We took the feedback from our customers and our Service Engineers and made the necessary improvements. I don’t think our newly designed Clamp Bore could have turned out better. It was truly a team effort!

Jeff Allen, Vice President of Operations, added:

The idea of implementing a robot into the clamp bore grinding machine has been getting bounced around for years. We facilitated numerous brainstorming sessions and discussions. The kind of brainstorming where you wake up in the middle of the night with an idea. That was the excitement around this redesign.

We also put a lot of weight on specific customer feedback and requests based on existing customers using older model clamp bore face grinding machines. There were specific requests on what design changes they would like to see on the new model.

The previous design of the C&B Clamp Bore Face Grinding Machine had a gantry system that made servicing the machine a challenge and required a high number of spare parts.

Standard clamp bore face grinding machine design included a gantry system that required a large number of parts. All of these parts were located within the interior of the machine, making servicing the machines difficult, as the space to work was very tight. The C&B Engineering Team worked to improve our work holding tooling and remove the gantry to achieve the desired upgrades. Allen provided details about the design:

The core components of the machine stayed the same. We repositioned the spindle columns to replace the gantry mechanism. This one change allowed for several previous components to be removed, making the machine more open and maintenance-friendly. The main change is that we have incorporated a Fanuc robot within the machine for the movement of parts.

The part handling area of the machine is simpler than in previous models. This is an area where many of our service calls occurred. The new design fixes the issue before it happens.

After testing multiple design concepts, the new design will be put into production in the very near future and multiple machines are being manufactured. This machine design allows users easier access to the spindles, gauges, and work holding than previous models. It also provides better coolant flow and minimizes areas for swarf buildup.

Does My Spindle Need a Rebuild?

Thursday, September 5, 2024 | News

Symptoms of Spindle Failure

Is your grinding machine experiencing any of the following symptoms?

Vibration?
Excessive Noise?
Part Quality Issues?

These are common issues that could indicate that your spindle may be failing, needs maintenance, or needs to be completely rebuilt.

Self-Diagnose Spindle Failure

Below are steps that can be taken internally to diagnose if your spindle needs to be rebuilt or if a double disc grinding spindle expert from C&B Machinery should be scheduled to evaluate further.

Preparation – Turn off the machine and disconnect/lock out the power source(s), allowing the machine to be inspected safely.
Inspection – Perform a visual inspection looking for signs of damage and wear. Some common items and areas to inspect are as follows:
- Spindle Bellow/Boot – Inspect the rubber spindle boot to ensure there are no cracks, tears, or holes. If damaged, this should be replaced to avoid damage.
- Lubrication – Inspect all lubrication ports and lines to ensure that all critical areas of the spindle are being greased.
- Grease – Inspect grease in all areas of the spindle to ensure proper consistency. If any of the grease has a “milky” type consistency or texture it may be contaminated with coolant/water and further evaluation is necessary.
Measurements – Checking the spindle for deflection or backlash can tell you a lot about the condition of the spindle overall. An excessive amount of deflection or backlash in the spindle assembly or infeed system means that the spindle should be torn down, inspected, and rebuilt to ensure the longevity of the grinding machine.
Pro Tips!
- Outboard Bearing Support – Be sure to also inspect the outboard bearing support, if applicable, as sometimes the failure could be in this assembly and not the actual spindle.
- Rotary Union (Deublin) – This component, which allows for through spindle coolant, may fail causing excessive vibration and noise. This can be misleading while diagnosing a spindle failure and can be easily tested by removing the rotary union and running the spindle temporarily to see if the vibration and noise go away. If it does, replace the component before any further damage occurs to the spindle.

Conclusion

The most effective way to avoid spindle repairs is to perform regular, scheduled preventative maintenance on all of your grinding machines. Keep in mind that time and use will wear down parts of any machine and repair and/or replacement will eventually be required. After following the steps above, if you find that your spindle is in need of repair or rebuild, it is best to work with a company that specializes in these types of spindles. C&B Machinery has a long history of providing spindle rebuild services on a variety of different machines. Our team specializes in rebuilding Besly, Gardner, Giustina, and Mattison grinding machine spindles and is familiar with the varying specifications for each machine make/model.

We look forward to connecting with you and discussing your spindle rebuild needs.

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