Belle City Metal Products developed a timesaving tool-sharpening system by combining a vise and a grinder. This discovery cut tool-maintenance time by over 75% and CNC turret punch press downtime decreased by 50%.

It began when president Rodney Lueke needed a solution to the costly expense of tool sharpening, which runs as high as $35,000 for automatic equipment. All he had available in his shop was a Heinrich 6-SV Grip-Master vise and a manual surface grinder. After a few trials, he constructed one tool sharpening system that handled punches and dies across a broad range of sizes. The result is significantly less expensive than automatic equipment and faster by about 1-2 minutes for each tool. (The fixture, shown here, has no loose pieces.)

The vise's quick-acting locking mechanism, cast iron construction, and pass-through space between guide bars make it easy to accommodate Lueke's unique fixture design. Since a part can frequently require the CNC machine's maximum of 33 tools, the punches and dies need to be sharpened as quickly as possible to maintain high production levels. This is especially critical when punching holes in stainless steel sheets because of the material's high cost.

Here are some benefits of the vise/grinder arrangement.

• Sharpening of the punch assembly without taking it apart. This saves a lot of time because a punch assembly has multiple pieces that need to be carefully reassembled.


• Tops of the punch and die are about the same height when held in the vise. This results in very few hand turns for height adjustment of the grinding wheel. Also, most of the grinding can be done in a fast, rough fashion before the slower final pass.


• The vise can be taken off the grinder if the machine needs to be used for some other job. This adds to the system's versatility.