The Dynamic Duo

As the demand for parts grows exponentially within the manufacturing industry, so does the need for expert deburring and chamfering. James Engineering manufactures an all-purpose finishing system known as the MAX System that is meant to be paired with CNC machines to produce parts of the highest caliber.

“The MAX is meant to compliment CNC machines,” explains Scott Richards, Vice President of James Engineering. “The MAX allows CNC machines to do what they do best: make parts.”

While CNC machines can deburr parts, they tend to be choppy, aggressive, and slow at it; their primary function is to cut. This means high-volume shops are extremely limited when it comes to both the quality and quantity of parts they’re producing (that is if they rely on CNC machines to deburr as well). The MAX is the solution to this problem—it leaves cutting to the CNC machines and does everything else. “We’re not trying to make a metal cutting machine, or a part manipulator. We’re making a machine that does a delicate job quickly in a way that hand deburring, and CNC machines, can’t,” says Richards. So once the CNC machines can focus solely on cutting, a higher volume of parts can be produced in one day, ultimately heightening a company’s productivity as well as increasing their overall part quality.

Before

This is what a part would look like just after it’s been cut. All those ridges are bits of excess metal that need to be deburred off.

After

This is what a part would look like after it’s been deburred, chamfered, brushed, washed, and surfaced by the MAX.

Not only does the MAX make overall processing easier, but the machine itself is easily operatable, especially for those who have prior experience with CNC machines. “Within four minutes anybody could learn how to use the machine,” Richards states, “We teach these machines to move into position conversationally, have it catch that point, then move to another position. This is unlike CNC machines, or even robots. If someone new wanted to run a CNC machine, they’d have to understand the language the program is written in; we do not run M- or G-code, we use conversational programming.”

Deburring in a CNC machine can be inaccurate and slow-moving—but that’s because deburring isn’t the main function of a CNC, cutting is. The whole purpose of the MAX is to take the weight of deburring off CNC machines. So while the CNCs focuses on expertly cutting parts, the MAX deburrs, chamfers, brushes, washes, and surfaces all in one go after said parts have gone through the CNC. The MAX will pick up a CNC’s slack, and vice versa, making them the perfect pair. The duo will drastically reduce cycle times while still producing a high volume of expertly processed parts with focus, and without the sacrifice of integrity. For any shops out there running into issues with CNC deburring, or for companies who would simply like to increase their productivity overall, investing in the MAX is the next step you need to make.

Everyone needs a best friend, even machines. Give your CNC its best buddy today and inquire at Sales@James-Engineering.com as to how you can bring your MAX home.

The Torchbearer

Bent over a worktable and concealed behind a scratched hood decorated in flames, Masenn Lewis, lead welder at James Engineering, is laser-focused on the project at hand: welding components for a cement 3D printer.

Lewis has been a welder at James Engineering since March of 2022. Prior to finding his place at the family-owned deburring and chamfering machine shop located in Broomfield, Colorado, Lewis had eight years of welding experience, working on anything from firetrucks to underwater pipelines. He attended the Divers Institute of Technology located in Seattle, where his underwater welding journey began once he’d earned his certificate. “[As an underwater welder] I’ve been all over the place. I was in Dutch Harbor, Alaska for almost a year, working with crab fishermen doing underwater construction. My favorite place was at a dam job in Austin, Texas.” Underwater welding is argued to be the most dangerous career in the country, with a fatality rate of 15%. After sustaining major injuries during his time as an underwater welder, Lewis moved from Texas to Colorado to look for something a bit drier.

Masenn lewis

“I was up in [Colorado] doing a handful of interviews,” he recalls, “and [James Engineering] offered to hire me on the spot.”

His skills did not go unnoticed, and James Engineering just knew they had to have him on their team.

But just as Lewis has played a vital role at James Engineering, they have played a major part in Lewis’s professional life. “I’ve worked for other companies where you don’t have access to the engineers to figure out what problems are happening, [but here] I’m able to talk to the engineers whenever I need to,” he says. “It’s a strong suit of the company.” Without collaboration, the manufacturing industry as a whole would fail. James Engineering highly values teamwork, and Lewis has experienced firsthand just how valuable a strong team can be. “People here get along really well, and it makes it easier to work for sure.”

This collaboration then provides endless learning opportunities, especially in the face of hard challenges. “We’ve had to work on parts of the enclosures where it’s impossible to do what we need to do,” Lewis answers when asked what challenges he’s had to overcome during his time at James Engineering. “Jim, Scott, the engineers and I figure out different ways to get things done.”

tips from the torchbearer

In an industry that requires so much precision, Lewis offers up a few helpful tips to those who are looking to try their hand at welding. “Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Welding is an industry where you have to work hard, there’s no reason for you to watch people work and just sit around… Always have an open mind when it comes to welding. There’s a thousand ways to do something. One time it might work and the next time it might not, so you have to keep an open mind working on stuff.”

Lewis’s mastery of welding can be seen throughout every project he’s a part of. His dedication and craftsmanship reflect the steadfast values James Engineering upholds, and it’s employees like Masenn Lewis that strengthen our very foundation as a company.

No-Slip Grip

What is a gripper? Well, just think about its name! Grippers are a device that allow robot arms to grab, hold on to, and move items, and are a key component when it comes to automatic assembly. Without them, parts couldn’t automatically be loaded in/out of machines, which is something that ultimately saves businesses a lot of money and time. For companies that process a high volume of items every day, an automatic machine is ideal; by the end of the year, an automatic machine will cost said company half of what it would’ve taken to hire an operator. These machines are essential for some businesses, but without grippers, they wouldn’t be able to function.

Grippers have a pretty simple function, but their structures and abilities can vary. Here at James Engineering, we manufacture and sell three main times of grippers: your standard gripper, a failsafe gripper, and a parallel gripper.

standard gripper

The standard gripper is one we’re all familiar with, as its arms open and close as air pressure is turned on and off. These grippers are sturdy workhorses, but if there’s any malfunction with the air pressure, their arms will release whatever item it’s holding. This could potentially cost businesses a lot in damages, both for parts and the overall machine the gripper is inside.

failsafe gripper

James Engineering came up with the failsafe gripper as a way to combat heavy reliance on air pressure. Initially, operators will notice the failsafe gripper is powered by an air cylinder, but these grippers are actually made failsafe by internal coil springs. These springs keep the arms of the gripper closed, even if air pressure were to fail. This ensures that neither part or machine will sustain any damage due to drops.

parallel gripper

James Engineering also manufactures a parallel gripper featuring technology unique to us. These grippers don’t swing open and closed like the aforementioned grippers, but instead slide on parallel axes. That means these grippers are perfect for picking up long, thin, or abnormally shaped items with ease. Your typical parallel gripper will have exposed tracks, making them very hard to keep dirt-free. This contamination will ultimately wear down the gripper and create play in its arms. Play will make the arms bend, making them unable to keep hold of the items they need to grab. The difference in the James Engineering grippers is that they utilize a technology known as linear motion slides. These slides are not limited to grippers, but are a game changer when it comes to parallel gripper function. These slides allow the arms to roll on bearings, which squish dirt out of the tracks and prevent unnecessary wear. The bearings will also prevent play, so the lifetime of the James Engineering parallel grippers will outlast those of other competing grippers..

James Engineering believes in inventing the unorthodox, providing buyers with the most precise and efficient technology on the market. Not only are we deburring and chamfering machine manufacturers, we also manufacture items like grippers, as well as an array of other products. If interested in purchasing a gripper, or looking into what other products we offer, check out our PRODUCTS page. 

But for now, get a grip and switch to a James Engineering gripper—we won’t let you slip!

The Grind Never Stops

Grinding wheels are vital in the manufacturing world—they’re how machinists polish rough edges and achieve consistent chamfers. The size and abrasiveness of these wheels very depending on what materials they’re made of. This will directly correlate with what gears/parts the wheels are used for.

Here at James Engineering, we have an extensive stock of various grinding wheels and sell them at competitive prices. Let’s get into the 3 main wheels we sell and why you need to know the difference between them.

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1. The Woven Fiberglass Wheel

This is your typical grinding wheel made from a homogenous blend of aluminum oxide and powdered resin. The tops and bottoms of these wheels are pressed with fiberglass, which acts as a strengthening agent and ensures the wheels don’t break while spinning.

Pros: They’re quick, and they’re aggressive, meaning their time efficient and great for cutting.

Cons: They can sometimes be a little too aggressive. These wheels can cut too deeply and have an extreme tendency to bounce, as they have no dampening factor.

2. The Woven Cloth Wheel

This wheel is comprised of cotton, liquid resin, and aluminum oxide. You might be thinking, cotton, really? But it really works! Strips of cotton cloth are layered between layers of resin, and these many layers keep the wheel’s structure from falling apart.

Pros: These wheels are great for chamfering due to the fact they don’t bounce nearly as much as fiberglass wheels do since the cotton acts as a dampening agent. The fact that they’re softer, and don’t have as much bounce, means the parts/gears they’re working on can be spun at faster rates, achieving a quicker and smoother chamfer.

Cons: They’re a bit too soft for cutting. Believe it or not, cotton isn’t very sharp.

3. The Woven Carbon Fiber Wheel

This is the most unique wheel sold at James Engineering. In fact, it’s so unique and rare that we are the only ones to carry it! These wheels are made of carbon fiber and resin, and nothing more. There’s no abrasive added to them, but the carbon itself acts as a very mild abrasive.

Pros: They’re perfect for those with very niche needs. They create extremely subtle chamfers and have beautiful surfacing abilities. They’re also great to use at trade shows because they won’t tear apart gears or non-gears during demonstration.

Cons: They’re very, very gentle, so they can’t do very much. Since they have no abrasive added to them, they make cutting and grinding a drawn-out process—essentially, they’re mostly for people who need very petite chamfers.

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Whatever your grinding needs consist of, James Engineering will help you find the most perfectly-fitting wheel. We’ll even send you a sample or two!

 If you’re interested to know even more about the different kind of grinding wheels we sell, check out https://www.james-engineering.com/grinding-wheels.

Champion of Gear Chamfers

Getting a perfect gear chamfer is not easy. In many cases, many people aren’t even aware that it could be done better; they probably don’t even know why they aren’t seeing better results.

There are many variables that affect the outcome of a chamfer: grinding wheel speed, grinding wheel pressure, grinding wheel angle, rotary table speed, etc. Keeping all these components in mind can be a headache! Who knew such a process could be so complicated?

Well, James Engineering has a couple of tips that will help you achieve the cleanest chamfer possible:

·      Make sure the grinding wheel engages the part gently. If it’s too quick in engaging, you might notice a small cloud of dust burst up from the point of contact, gouging the part in a way that is noticeable to the eye. This small cloud will contain 3 to 4 times more material removed in that single instant than what you’d see after chamfering the entire part!

·      Be sure that the grinding wheel produces an even spark pattern. Any interruption in that pattern is a loss in efficiency, and can be caused when the wheel lifts and bounces back down onto the part. Whether that bounce is subtle or extreme, it will still cause a decrease in wheel life and leave you with an inconsistent chamfer.

·      To eliminate heavy chamfer marks, or what we call striations, use a wheel that has natural shock-absorption, such as the wheel we sell at James Engineering. Most companies use rigid cutoff wheels made of fiberglass reinforcing material, bonded with a dense (and usually black) open-cutting resin. But we at James Engineering suggest using a reinforced open-cutting, resin-bonded wheel with shock-absorbing properties, which also happen to be a lighter color and won’t break when forced to flex slightly. The best way to see the difference between the two kind of wheels, other than overall performance, is to bounce the cutting edge of the wheel off your desk. The competing wheel will bounce instantly, while ours will absorb some of the impact’s shock and not bounce as wildly—it’ll even sound quieter!

If you implement these three tips, chamfering becomes a whole different animal. You’ll be able to hear the difference between a good and bad chamfer; the good will sound smooth, while the bad will sound choppy. You’ll be left with a chamfer so clean, so perfect, you won’t be able to help but call it the champion of all gear chamfers. If you have any questions, or would like to receive a wheel sample, please feel free to contact us at Sales@James-Engineering.com.

Rough, uneven chamfers.

Smooth, even chamfers achieved by the MAX System, the ultimate gear chamfering machine