News | C&B Machinery

Employee Spotlight – Craig Attard

Thursday, June 8, 2023 | News

Craig Attard – Purchasing / Spare Parts Manager

Craig just moved into a new role at C&B. What better time to put him in the spotlight!

What is the story behind how you came to work at C&B Machinery?

I was familiar with C&B because they were a previous customer of mine from my former employer. I knew the company and that there was a good crew of people here.

Since coming to C&B, what has been your favorite project?

The New Clamp Bore Machine Project – it has been an important product advancement for the company and I have learned a lot from the project management side of the project, as well.

Hot Sauce Meter – Mild, Medium, Hot, Fire

Medium – lots of flavor but not too much heat

How did you get involved in the grinding industry?

My first job was assembling for Wheel Dressing Incorporated. I worked there for 22 years. Future opportunities came from my connections within the grinding industry.

Town you call home:

Not where I live now: Dearborn Heights, MI

What advice would you give to someone thinking about manufacturing as a career?

Go into an area that you enjoy. I work in manufacturing because I enjoy building and fixing things. I am mechanically inclined. Look into a career where you have a talent.
I started working in assembly, then moved to inside sales, then engineering. You can climb the ladder in manufacturing, if you put in the effort.
I encourage looking at manufacturing for job opportunities. Everything needs to be built. There is a lot of variety in the manufacturing industry. I once had a position where I might call on the medical industry, automotive industry and military industry all in one day. There are opportunities for advancement unlike you see in many other industries. The variety of products is unlimited. Not everything in manufacturing is related to the automotive industry.

Blue & Gold (U of M) or Green & White (MSU)?

Blue & Gold

What roles have you held at C&B? What does your current role entail?

I started in an Inside Sales/Project Management role. About a month ago, I moved to Purchasing and Spare Parts Manager.
In my current role, I work with customers to help keep their machines running. I do this by working with them to identify the machine parts they need for repairs or maintenance. I work with our vendors to ensure timely delivery of parts to our customers.
Working with our vendors helps me keep current with product offerings and lead times. This helps me do a better job overall.

Does My Spindle Need a Rebuild?

Friday, May 5, 2023 | 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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Job Shadow Day – March 2023

Wednesday, April 12, 2023 | News

C&B Machinery was given the privilege of hosting 3 local high school students on March 8 for Job Shadow Day. Job Shadow Day is an event hosted by the Livingston Educational Service Agency (LESA) and its Career Development Center. This is a bi-annual event that provides an opportunity for businesses to open their doors to local students who are interested in the work they do.

C&B Machinery has a long history in Livingston County and has worked with LESA in the past. For the 2023 event, we had the opportunity to host 2 Brighton High School students and 1 Hartland High School Student. The students attend the Manufacturing program through the Livingston Career & Technical Education Center. Unlike a general tour, the students were able to experience hands-on learning. They were able to try hand scraping, learn more about the grinding process and talk with machinists, engineers, and other staff about what they do and ask questions about C&B.

C&B Machinery was honored to be a part of this event and we look forward to more events like this in the future. We are aware that our future success will be in the talented youth of tomorrow and want to be a part of building relationships with LESA and all students who show an interest in Manufacturing.

Explain the Process

Show Us How it Works

Learning with an Engineer

New Partnership with PTG – Holroyd

Monday, February 28, 2022 | News

C&B Machinery is excited to announce a new partnership as the exclusive North American agent for PTG – Holroyd! The agreement was finalized late last year and is now in full swing with multiple active projects in the final stages of the RFQ process. Through this partnership, we will leverage our existing North American customer base and expand on the solutions that we can provide. With the dynamic shift of production to support electric vehicle (EV) advancements we see this as a perfect match for building a stronger foundation for the future of manufacturing.

“From our initial introduction to PTG – Holroyd’s technology, their company history, and the teams’ expertise we knew that this would be a great partnership,” stated C&B Machinery’s VP of Sales Fabrizio Tarara. “With the rapidly changing marketplace due to electrification, we have received many inquiries from our customer base asking C&B to offer more solutions. Our customers are looking to give work to trusted partners with a proven track record of delivering robust turn-key systems. We see this as a perfect match for the future with an immediate positive response from our existing customer base!”

“With significant experience supplying and manufacturing precision machines, and recognized for providing high levels of customer service, C&B Machinery was able to demonstrate the uncompromising standards we expect from our agents,” comments PTG-Holroyd Sales Director, Mark Curran.

“C&B Machinery will offer our full range of rotor milling machines, rotor grinding machines, gear grinding machines, screw pump and worm gear grinding machines, as well as PTG Powerstir friction stir welding (FSW) machines for transport applications,” he adds.

Holroyd is a world leader in the design, build and supply of high-precision gear, rotor, screw and thread milling, grinding, and friction stir welding. Holroyd’s business portfolio can be put into three distinctive categories.

PTG Holroyd’s gear, rotor, thread and pump-screw milling and grinding machines produce the world’s most accurate helical components.

PTG Friction Stir Welding’s Powerstir FSW machines enable manufacturers in sectors as diverse as automotive, aerospace and high-speed rail to create lightweight, superior, high-strength joints.

Double Disc Grinder Alignment Issues

Thursday, February 24, 2022 | News

All machines require a certain level of alignment that is directly proportional to the tolerances expected of the finished workpiece. Double Disc Grinding Machines are capable of final part tolerances in the .0001”-.0005” range, depending on the application, making machine alignments critical. Over time these alignments are negatively affected by wear, improper adjustments, poor maintenance, etc., and may require proper adjustments to resolve part quality issues.

Typical Part Quality Issues

Size/Height: Trouble maintaining part size.
Parallelism: Parts not grinding parallel due to machine setup issues.
Flatness: Parts not grinding flat due to machine setup issues.
Swipes, swiping, dubbing, shiny spots, and/or inconsistent grind patterns.
Localized burns, hot spots, or poor surface finish.

Possible Machine Issues

Spindle In-Feed Assembly Worn Out or Misaligned
Dresser Assembly Misaligned or Setup Issues
Spindle Heads Misaligned, Worn Out, or Bearing Issues
Guides Misaligned in relation to each other or the grinding wheels.
Tooling / Feed Mechanism Misaligned in relation to the guides and grinding wheels.

Misalignments in various mechanisms manifest themselves in the part geometry and finish. Poor parallelism, poor flatness, and burning in a limited area of the part can all indicate a misalignment condition. Swiping is when one certain area of the parts has an uneven mark, different grind patterns, or a limited area with a poor surface finish. These can all be symptoms of machine misalignments or worn-out assemblies.

Adjusting one area of the machine can cause problems in other areas, so the machine must be thought of as a system. Problems can result from the wheels being misaligned relative to each other. The dresser can be misaligned relative to the wheels. The guides must also be properly aligned relative to each other and also in relation to the wheels. The tooling/part feed mechanism must also be considered to achieve a properly aligned system and the tightest tolerances with a quality finish.

Our Service Technicians have the training, tools, and experience to keep your machine’s output at its best. Let one of C&B’s trained service technicians bring your machine back into alignment and get your production back to producing quality parts today!

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Belt Conveyor Offers Flexible Solution

Tuesday, February 15, 2022 | News

Are you looking to reduce downtime? Are you looking to improve your production rates? We recently replaced a blue steel gear conveyor and elevator with our dual side belt conveyor. We dramatically reduced downtime, lost/damaged parts, and reduced part changeover time. The conveyor is easily adjusted with a hand wheel for different size gears. This conveyor design minimizes the parts making contact, it can convey parts uphill, downhill, or work on flat applications. Our customer broke gear production records after our conveyor upgrades were installed. If you are looking to improve your production and solve common part conveyance issues give us a call.