Why you should renew your industrial machine knives?

Is it really worthwhile spending time and money having your industrial machine knives renewed?

The answer is an emphatic yes.

Blades that are dull and/or in poor condition will highly affect the performance of your machinery.

From reduced cutting performance to increased downtime, blades in poor condition, with compromised edge integrity will diminish the quality of your finished products.

What’s more, if you fail to have your industrial machine knives sharpened on a regular basis, you’ll reduce the lifespan of your blades, leading to the expense of having to buy new blades, more often.

Aside from the financial benefits of renewing machine blades, there’s another factor to consider; the environment. By prolonging the life of your machine blades you’re preventing further waste from entering landfill, as well as reducing resources being committed to new blade production.

So, from reducing the costs associated with blade replacement, improving the performance of your machinery, lowering your carbon footprint and reducing downtime – sharpening and renewing your industrial machine knives has a host of benefits.

What types of industrial machine knives can be renewed?

It’s possible for a wide range of different industrial machine knives to be resharpened.

Here at MRMK we are able to regrind many types of cutting edges, such as:

• Tray seal knives.
• Vertical baggers.
• Guillotine knives.
• Granulator knives.
• Chipper blades.
• Recycling blades.
• Crush cutters.
• Dished knives.
• And more…

In other words, if you’ve got a blade that needs sharpening, it’s highly likely that you’ll be able to have it renewed and breathe new life into it.

What is the industrial machine knives renewal process?

If you’ve made the decision to have your industrial machine knives refurbished, what does the renewal process actually look like?

Typically, industrial machine knife renewal involves the following steps.

Cleaning

On receipt of the machine knives, most renewal/regrinding services will thoroughly clean them.

They’ll ensure that all residues, dirt, grime and adhesives are completely removed from the blades/knives, leaving them immaculately clean.

In other words, any debris will be pared back to reveal the blade in its ‘pure’ form.

Visual inspection

Once the knives have been comprehensively and thoroughly cleaned, they will then be subjected to a detailed visual inspection.

The visual inspection is carried out so that damage and cracks to the knives can be identified. Any superficial damage will be noted so that it can be remedied further down the renewal process.

Dimension checks

Following the visual inspection, dimension checks will then be undertaken. This involves carefully measuring and inspecting the dimensions of the knife to see how it compares to its original specifications.

This is an important part of the process as it’s vital that a blade or knife correctly fits its machinery. Blades with poor fit will lead to poor cutting performance.

Regrinding

Once the knife renewal team is satisfied with the measurements of the knife, they’ll then subject it to regrinding.

Depending on the type of blade, a number of different techniques may be used during this part of the process.

Techniques that can be used to renew a blade include:

• ● Honing.
• ● Polishing.
• ● Regrinding.
• ● Bevelling.

Guide – find out more about the different edge preparation techniques used on machine knives in our complete guide here.

Inspection and packaging

Once the knife or blade has undergone the regrinding/renewal process, it will then go through a final inspection process.

This final inspection will normally involve a close visual inspection, checking the blade edge as well as the broader structure of the blade/knife.

Once inspected, the knife/blade will then be packaged and returned to the customer for installation into its original machine.

How often should you renew your industrial machine knives?

If you work with cutting machines in intensive sectors such as food production, meat, poultry, seafood, fruit and veg, packaging, medical, paper, or packaging it’s highly recommended that you have your machine knives renewed several times a year. 

Whilst it may seem inconvenient to have knives reground several times a year, the inconvenience more than offsets the costs you’ll incur in terms of poor production quality, the costs of buying new blades and more.

Think of it this way – it makes much better financial sense to hire a professional regrinding service to extend the life of your current blades than to go to the (much greater expense) of buying completely new blades.

What to look for in an industrial machine renewal provider

Should you decide that the time is right to renew/regrind your machine blades, who should you get to do the job?

First of all, you should ensure that you choose a provider that’s experienced at working with high-grade stainless steel. Secondly, you need to select a provider that not only is experienced in renewing blades, but in manufacturing them too.

Whilst there are many companies out there that will offer to renew/regrind machine blades and knives, it’s those companies that also manufacture blades that will do the best job.

Why? Because it’s only when you manufacture blades directly that you gain a proper understanding of how to best renew/regrind them.

What to do when your industrial machine knives cannot be renewed

Whilst it almost always makes sense to have your machine blades renewed – you might be surprised at how much life you can eke out of an old machine knife – there does sometimes come a point at which a machine blade cannot be renewed.

If you find yourself in that situation, what can you do? Well, don’t think that your options are limited to expensive OEM blades.

Thanks to companies such as MRMK, it’s now possible to pick up high-quality blades and knives for your machines without having to rely on expensive OEM blades.

Breathe new life into your industrial machine knives with MRMK

Is it time to breathe new life into your industrial machine blades? Then do it with MRMK.

Based in the heart of Sheffield’s historic steel making district, MRMK offers an industry-leading machine blade and knife renewal service.

We can renew and refresh your cutting equipment at a fraction of the cost of buying replacement blades.

Refurbish and renew, rather than replace.

Want to find out more?

Speak to MRMK about our machine blade regrinding service now

For more machine blade information and advice, explore the MRMK news and insights hub…

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