Money $aving Treatment For Cutting Tools

Solution Technology Systems, Inc. has developed a treatment for dramatically improving the useful life and cutting quality of saw blades and router bits used for cutting plastic. MAXLIFE TREATMENT™ is a process that involves dipping carbide or diamond cutting tools into a proprietary solution that is then baked on to lock out water molecules. The result is a very thin crystalline layer of light metals bonded to the surface and incorporating some of the top layer of atoms from the cutting tool. The treatment results in no effective change in the dimension of the tool because it is only a few atoms thick.

An advantage of the treatment is that it can be applied each time your tool is redressed and sharpened without excessive build up.

The company claims that the use of MAXLIFE TREATMENT has made saw blades last more than 8 times longer between sharpening. Even more significant is that the treated blades do not accumulate melted residue on their face and they do not leave melted debris on the cut plastic edge. This eliminates the need to scrape the cut parts prior to assembly and welding.

To illustrate, one shop that treats their blades normally sharpened them after cutting about 20 sheets of mixed types of plastic. Now they cut in excess of 160 sheets with their treated blades.

The real story is in the savings. They were sharpening about 8 blades per month and buying ten new blades per year at an annual expenditure of $5,820. With MAXLIFE TREATMENT they now sharpen one blade per month and they need only one new blade per year, total expenditure: $690. Their annual savings is $5,130.

Even more dramatic were their savings on the labor side. Without treatment, blades quickly became fouled leaving melt debris on the cut parts. It was estimated that five assemblers were spending between 10 and 15 % of their time (about 20 to 30 hours per week) just dressing cut edges. After treating the blades they now spend around 2 hours on the same task. A small additional savings is also seen from less down time for blade changes. The total savings was over $5,000 on sharpening and new blades, and a staggering $36,400 on labor.

For more information, contact Eric Harnden, Solution Technology Systems, Inc., 112 First Street, Redlands, CA 92373, 909-793-9493, Fax: 909-335-0359, E-mail: tharnden@aol.com.