CHICAGO--Cincinnati Milacron Inc. has introduced a proprietary epoxy and granite composite for machine bases and is using the material for the base of the company's Model AE centerless grinding machines.
Paul Hollingsworth, sales project engineer, said one of the advantages of the bases, which are
95 percent granite and 5 percent epoxy, is that they reduce machine vibration. The product was exhibited at the recent International Machine Tool Show.
The epoxy-granite base, Hollingsworth said, has six times the dampening effect of cast iron, the material of which most machine bases are made. And with the increased dampening of vibration, he said, the machine can produce a much better part finish.
In addition, the epoxy-granite base has improved thermal characteristics, the official said. Metal bases expand and contract with changing temperature while epoxy-granite has a very slow rate of growth. With a symetrical base design, the thermal growth occurs in a controlled direction.
An average machine base uses between about 4,000 and 5,000 pounds of cast iron, Mark Kilmer, sales engineer at the Cincinnati-based company, estimated. Hollingsworth said that the cost of the epoxy-granite base is about the same as the cost of cast iron but the manufacturing lead time is shorter.