Delapena Grinding has been the sole UK agent for E-Tech grinding machines since 2023, a Taiwanese machine tool company that can trace its roots in grinding back to the 1950s. The company sells machines around the world and prides itself on manufacturing models that offer high levels of repeatability, guaranteeing consistent quality for even the most challenging applications. With iGrind programming software the machines are also easy to operate; designed from the ground up to be intuitive and operator-friendly, minimising training time and maximising productivity.

Firstly, can you give us a bit of background about the Delapena Group, its history, honing technology and capabilities?

Delapena Honing Equipment has been in business for 98 years. During this time Delapena has manufactured over 10,000 honing machines to the global honing market. The honing process is critical to precision engineering as it enhances the accuracy, surface finish and functional performance to machined components. Today the honing process can achieve tolerances down to an accuracy of 0.0005mm and surface finishes less than 0.05Ra

Can you tell us more about your relationship with E-Tech grinding machines?

There are a lot of synergies between honing and grinding: progressive material removal; surface finish enhancement; correction shape and roundness and reducing internal stresses, to name a few. Delapena researched many grinding machine manufacturers and wanted to partner with a company that had innovation as one of its key objectives. E-Tech is constantly developing new grinding machines that are not manufactured by the competition and together with the conversational programming capability of the control systems make them very attractive to precision grinding customers.

What sorts of machines do E-Tech produce and what do you think they offer customers in terms of performance, usability and innovation?

E-Tech covers the whole range of conventional grinding machines including surface, cylindrical, centreless, tub/ ring grinders as well as some less conventional offerings, such as large vertical grinders and eccentric/non-round grinders. They comprise proven construction methods such

as hand scraped ways and hydrodynamic spindles, where appropriate, combined with modern technology such as linear motors and CNC controls for improved performance and capability. They also include features that help to plug the skills gap. Skills and staffing are probably the biggest issues that everyone from OEMs to subcontractor shops are facing on multiple fronts, but most of these facilities still use grinding machines that require constant operator input for traverse, infeed or both. Not only can we resolve this issue with the machines being fully CNC, but we can also offer a host of options from automatic wheel balancing, in process gauging, as well as automation systems such as robots, gantry systems etc. to increase productivity. E-Tech machines are found in all industry sectors: aerospace; defence; medical; automotive; motorsport; construction equipment; machine tool production; toolmaking and power generation.

How will Delapena support customers with these machines in terms of training, support and service?

Training will be delivered by us here at Delapena. The beauty of the conversational control means that operators should be comfortable with the machine in minimal time. Delapena is a machine tool company, not just a sales agency. We build machine tools here in the UK and have a team of skilled engineers used to building, maintaining and servicing high precision machines to hold exacting tolerances. Furthermore, E-Tech has designed its machines based on the global market, so all bearings are from NSK, ball screws are from Hiwin, the pneumatics are provided by SMC and controls are all from global providers, be that Mitsubishi or FANUC. The major benefit of this for our customers is that all of these components are available locally.

What are you developing in terms of trends such as automation and Industry 4.0. and skills?

 Automation of machine tools has become vital in a market where there is a shortage of engineers. Both the Delapena Honing machines and E-Tech grinding machines have lots of options for automation that can be customised for the customers’ requirements. Delapena and E-Tech can offer cobots, robots and pallet loaded machines that integrate with control systems that maximise optimise workforce productivity. Delapena is also developing machine tools with integrated AI that can handle batch production with minimal set up times.