As you conduct routine maintenance on your machinery, it’s common to take a look at your machine knives and evaluate them for replacement or sharpening. It’s not unusual for knife sharpening to be delayed in place of other more “critical” maintenance needs. However, overlooking the condition and taking care of your knives as a priority during routine machine upkeep can be a very costly and even dangerous move.
It’s easy to drop your knives off at a general machine shop for sharpening because they’re close by, they have a grinder, and let’s face it. It’s easy. However, do you know that working with a general machine shop that doesn’t understand industrial knives can negatively impact your cutting operation? It’s true. This article provides three solid reasons you should work with an industrial knife specialist. The fact is, a sharpening operation with special knowledge of metallurgy, precision grinding, and cutting applications can provide a level of service and performance that is unavailable from common grinding operations.
1. Knowledge of metallurgy, abrasives, and cutting applications enables an industrial knife expert the ability to choose the correct combination of wheels and segments for your material. Not all grinding and sharpening operations are created equally. When you work with a general machine shop, they have grinding equipment on-hand that can work a piece of metal and they probably have sharpening capabilities. But, when it comes to the type of precision equipment you run for your cutting operation, it pays to work with professionals like those at American Cutting Edge who have cutting application experience. Skilled professionals can determine the exact combination of wheels and segments that will produce a superior cutting edge. They will also know what needs to be done to provide the best outcome based on your knife’s raw material, coating, and what you’re cutting with it. Sharpening and refurbishing work should be performed so well that the end product is matched to new knife tolerances.2. Professional quality requires specific grinding equipment and not just any grinding wheel. As noted above, not all grinding operations are created equally. To provide exceptional quality and return knives and blades to new knife tolerances, special equipment and coolants should be used. A cutting and industrial machining expert will have specific machinery they will use to grind knives. Also, they should be using special coolants to avoid over-machining your knife as it’s sharpened. It’s easy for companies without the experience of professionals like American Cutting Edge to burn the steel causing the edges to be brittle. Often over-grinding is covered up by taking a “clean-up pass” to improve the appearance of the blade.
Grinding on the wrong type of equipment without the right type of coolant can cause micro-fractures, which are minuscule cracks and imperfections in the knife that cannot be seen with the naked eye. When a knife has micro-fractures, resistance can be lost to the material, causing a large crack in the knife. Large cracks can run quickly and can lead to knives blowing up, which is a huge safety concern. Blown knives can cause serious injury to personnel, damage equipment, and wreak havoc on your cutting operation.
3. Industrial knife and cutting operation experts can help diagnose what could be holding your cutting operation back from being more productive and profitable. Our grinding experts thoroughly inspect every knife for cracks, nicks, signs of wear and tear and help diagnose problems that your team might overlook. In our more than 50-years of industrial knife manufacturing experience, we’ve seen knives in every condition imaginable. Our customers rely on our expertise to help identify problems based on the wear patterns, cracks, and other damage when we look over their knives before sharpening. If we’re not confident that the knife can be returned to working condition and deliver safe, consistent quality, we’ll let you know that it’s time to replace the knife.
“Sharpening can make an incredible impact on the expense of your cutting operation,” according to ACE Account Manager, Tom Trochelman. “There have been situations when customers have contacted us because they felt their costs for replacement knives were exceeding the budget but through a little investigation from our team of experts and some teamwork from the customer, we discovered otherwise,” he continues. “One specific example is a call I received just a few years ago. They indicated that their knives needed to be replaced too frequently. I checked their order history, confirmed the make, model, and year of their equipment and agreed that the frequency of new knives seemed a bit high. I knew the quality of the ACE brand knives we were producing was well within the specifications of the OEM requirements.”
Tom continues, “We asked the customer to watch the equipment’s electrical meter and usage over a period of several months. Comparing the electrical usage as reported to what it should have been, we were able to determine that the machine was working way too hard. When a machine is working too hard, there are a lot of reasons to investigate. One explanation often overlooked is the working condition of the knives.”
“As we suspected, further investigation found that their routine maintenance didn’t involve sharpening their blades. As the blades became dull, production became inefficient and more expensive because the machine had to work harder, needed more electricity, and quality was poor. We recommended that they sharpen their blades on a rotating schedule to avoid having to replace them as often with brand new knives. This cut down on the costs of buying new knives more often but also reduced the hard work the machine was having to put in to get the cutting job done. The cost of sharpening blades was far more economical than the cost of the electrical strain and buying only new blades,” said Tom.
Put the industrial knife and blade sharpening experts at American Cutting Edge to work for your cutting operation and contact us today. Not only do we have the experience and equipment to properly refurbish your knives, but we also know how to help you solve operational challenges associated with your operation.
