At the Domin Technology Centre (DTC) outside Bristol in England, the
smell of innovation is in the air. The atmosphere is characterized by concentrated
energy, as the future of motion control is being shaped here. In the bright, tidy halls, state-of-the-art 3D printing systems, EDM, and milling machines are present – and recently also an S33 cylindrical grinding machine from STUDER. These are tools for young, talented professionals united by a common mission: to awaken an entire industry from its technological sleeping beauty. With its 85 highly qualified employees, Domin is one of the most innovative companies in Great Britain.
Hydraulics – this is the technology that precisely controls power with pressurized fluids and moves even the heaviest loads with seemingly effortless ease. Hydraulic systems have become an indispensable part of our modern world, whether in excavators lifting tons of weight on construction sites, in an airplane extending its landing gear, or in cars executing braking commands in fractions of a second. However, it is also true that compared to other industries, there has been relatively little innovation and progress here since the 1950s.
High-tech valves and pumps advance hydraulics
“Traditional hydraulics is incredibly powerful, but also notoriously inefficient.
Conventional systems can waste up to 70 percent of their input energy,” explains Cameron Adams, Manufacturing Engineering Manager at Domin. Therefore, he and his team have made it their mission to bring this key technology for nearly every modern industry into the next era, so that more can be achieved with less.
Domin aims to achieve this with its core products: extremely responsive servo valves and ultra-compact high-performance pumps.
The company utilizes the design freedom of metal 3D printing to manufacture novel components with complex, flow-optimized internal structures. Such complex channel structures would be unthinkable with conventional, subtractive manufacturing. The result is digitally controllable hydraulic systems that enable efficiency gains of up to 90 percent compared to conventional solutions.
For example, a single modern valve from Domin reduces costs by about $400 per year, leading to significant savings in large systems. Domin's customers are found in industries such as aerospace, automotive and motorsport, industrial manufacturing, robotics, shipping, and the energy sector.
Scalable production thanks to the STUDER S33
Domin manufactures its products from extremely hard, durable, and corrosion-resistant maraging steel through 3D metal printing. After the additive process, surface finishing and fine geometries, known as edge matching, follow. Here, the control edges of the valve slider must be matched to the windows of the valve housing with an accuracy of a few micrometers. This matching is crucial for the overall performance of the valve.
Until now, Domin performed edge matching using wire erosion (EDM). This is a process that delivers high precision but is relatively slow. “We faced the challenge of scaling an extremely precise but slow process for our growing production,” recalls Adams. For this, Domin needed a machine that reliably guarantees the highest precision and also offers the flexibility to combine different machining processes.
After an intensive evaluation, the choice fell on the CNC universal cylindrical grinding machine S33 from STUDER.
High expectations for precision exceeded
Now Domin uses the S33 for the high-precision grinding of the diameters and fine control edges of the valve sliders for key products such as the valves of the S4 Pro, S6 Pro, and S10 Pro series. The requirements for accuracy are extremely high. For example, the S6 Pro valve requires a diameter tolerance of just three micrometers – a value that is twenty times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. “The precision and reliability of the STUDER machine have exceeded our expectations. During the acceptance test, the deviation over 50 components was only 0.0006 mm thanks to in-process measurement – and no, that’s not a typo,” says Adams.
This is made possible by state-of-the-art grinding technologies and high-quality components with which the Swiss quality manufacturer, with over 113 years of tradition, equips its cylindrical grinding machines. The S33 features the revolutionary hardware and software architecture C.O.R.E., whose large touch display not only ensures intuitive operation but also provides smart visualization of relevant production data. And with features like frequency-controlled motor grinding spindles for external and internal grinding, as well as the machine bed made of Granitan S103 mineral casting for the necessary thermal stability and vibration damping, reliably precise results are achieved.
Five minutes instead of one hour
Overall, the S33 has elevated production at Domin to a higher level. Thanks to the extremely low tolerances, the hydraulic specialists can now produce their valve sliders and blocks as fully interchangeable components in series. The previously necessary manual pairing of components is no longer required. The decisive technological advantage of the S33 for Domin was its configuration with two grinding wheels.
“The ability to grind both the diameters and the shoulders of the sliders in a single machine is a game changer for us,” says Adams and explains: “We know that if there is a possibility for errors, they will likely occur at some point. To reduce this risk, we designed the process so that grinding wheel changes or tailstock movements are not necessary. This approach not only reduces setup time but also minimizes the costs associated with errors that typically arise. Additionally, the transition from EDM to cylindrical grinding on the S33 for the S6 Pro valve has led to a dramatic improvement in efficiency – processing time has been reduced from nearly an hour to just five minutes.” Domin and STUDER also share a trusting collaboration. “The communication between our professionals and the excellent engineers at Domin worked very well from the start. Together, we were able to identify the S33 as the optimal machine and configure it for the specific production requirements,” recalls Michael Läuffer, Area Sales Manager UK/Ireland and Benelux at STUDER. This consulting and mutual trust were key for Domin. “We didn’t just get a machine, but a well-thought-out solution. The technical support and the ability to respond to our wishes were top-notch and greatly facilitated the entire implementation process,” confirms Adams.
Looking to the future, Domin's course is clearly focused on growth. The
Production volume is expected to rise exponentially in the coming years. To manage this,
the next step is already clear: the automation of part loading is the next milestone on the path to highly efficient series production. For this reason, the choice fell on the S33 with its smart and future-proof automation options. 'With STUDER, we have a partner by our side who will accompany us on these development steps and help us realize our vision of a fully automated, intelligent manufacturing process,' summarizes Adams.
Highlights of the S33
- Highest precision and process reliability through the perfect interplay
of hardware and software - Short processing time thanks to complete machining
- Intuitive operation and smart features with C.O.R.E. OS and StuderPictogramming
- Easy to automate thanks to standardized interfaces for loaders and
peripheral devices
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