Posted by Delphine,
Precision grinders lie at the heart of any toolmaking operation. Whether you are making stamping dies, forming dies, progressive dies, injection molds, or aerospace parts, grinding is still the way to maintain close tolerance work.
Probably very few old timers resent the fact that the wire EDM has replaced a great deal of the precision work of the not so distant past. That work was very time consuming and tedious, thankfully much of it is now automated! The complicated setups that took an hour to make and one minute to actually do the grinding are a nice memory.
True, there still is and always will be the need for such grinding in the toolroom. One unfortunate fact is that the newer apprentices do not have the background required to do this type of work. I foresee a shortage of skilled precision grinding toolmakers in the immediate future.
In fact, the three mold makers who do the bulk of the grinding are all over 55. The young bucks are certainly capable, but the need is not as common, so the practice is just not there.
