Honing may be a specialty process — material is removed at lower cutting speeds than in grinding, so heat and pressures are minimized, resulting in greater precision for hole size and geometry — but it’s one that is in increasing demand by customers specifying parts with exceptionally smooth internal cylindrical surfaces.

Nagel Precision Inc. will introduce a new ECO 20 honing system at IMTS 2014, a machine designed to handle both low-volume, high-changeover applications as well as high-volume production programs.

The system is specifically designed for high-accuracy finishing of small bores - up to 20 mm diameter.

The ECO 20 honing system is designed with Siemens servo-controlled spindles that can accelerate up to 3,000 rpm. The Siemens servo-controlled stroking system can operate at up 25 m/min.

These are flexible systems that operators can switch from conventional stroke honing to diamond sizing with the push of a button, so they are able to select the best process for an application, rather than compromising on a process based on its equipment availability.

Automatic tool-wear compensation (in both stroke honing and diamond sizing mode) is integrated to the post process gauging system.

Controlled by servos, the ECO 20’s tool-wear compensation system monitors bore size on each part and automatically compensates for tool wear by making fine, submicron-level adjustments that ensures bore accuracy.

Expansion is possible via Siemens servo-controlled mechanical or hydraulically actuated spindles, and can be switched from one mode to another quickly in matter of minutes.

Larger bores can be honed ECO 40, 80, 120 and 180, which offer same advanced features.