MACHINING & MACHINERY
MORE THAN 75 YEARS
COBORN ENGINEERING
A SUCCESS STORY IN PRECISION ENGINEERING
Established in 1941 by Sam Innocent, Coborn
Engineering initially manufactured high
precision spindles and balancing systems
and its name rapidly became associated with
the diamond industry. Coborn’s expertise
in spindle design and dynamic balancing is
still of upmost importance in scaife benches
for polishing high value gem diamonds
and this remains one of the company’s core
strengths. However, meeting the specific
customer needs of the ever-growing
industrial diamond market has become the
greatest factor in the continuing success of
the company.
guarantee performance and keep production
targets.
Above, PG4. Below, RG9AR
“Coborn is the only global company that is
totally focused on grinding and polishing
all types of diamonds. Coborn is a vital
part of the diamond industry’s value chain.
The partnership with relayr is a unique
opportunity to provide engineered solutions,
both technical and commercial, to support
the continued growth of the industry
by predictive maintenance, controlled
machine downtime and ultimately, process
optimisation. It will enable our customers
to realise the full potential value from
our machines,” explains Steve Westlake,
Managing Director of Coborn.
Coborn has a unique, global position
supplying specialised, high-precision
equipment to the polycrystalline diamond
industry and the gemstone and natural
diamond tooling industries, with over 90%
of machines being exported throughout the
world. Coborn constantly strives to improve
its range of products, services and solutions
which is one of the many reasons the
company is globally recognised as a provider
of precision engineering excellence.
Today Coborn offers a wide range of
machines and accessories for all facets
of the diamond industry including the
latest-generation PG4 and RG9A grinding
machines with full CNC control which
are used extensively in the production of
diamond cutting tools to meet the specific
demands of modern machine shops/
manufacturers. Optional extras are available
for Coborn’s machines providing a tailor-
made solution for the specific requirements
of each customer.
COBORN CUSTOMER CARE
Customer care is paramount to Coborn’s
company ethos and working closely with
its customers and building long-term
relationships contribute greatly to the ability
to offer bespoke engineered solutions,
product development and performance
enhancement. Coborn uses the latest
machine tool technology, combining
in-house hardware and software design
with the best equipment available from
around the world. The experience gained
from producing machines for over 75 years,
puts Coborn in an excellent position to
advise and assist its customers with the
subtleties of Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD)/
Polycrystalline Cubic Boron Nitride (PcBN)
and Single Crystal Diamond (SCD) tooling
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Partnering with relayr will enable Coborn
to deliver Industry 4.0 business solutions
to its customers through a unique blend of
technology, finance and insurance offerings.
This unrivalled approach will provide a
distinct level of customised customer
support and services whilst guaranteeing
the uptime of Coborn Intelligent Machines.
In turn, Coborn customers will be able to
increase their productivity and receive the
exact services they need.
RG9A MULTI-FUNCTIONAL
CAPABILITIES
where machine set-up and preparation are
critical in the production of complex tool
geometries.
PARTNERSHIP - INNOVATING
THE DIAMOND INDUSTRY
As testament to Coborn’s commitment to
its customers and the development of the
diamond industry, the company has entered
into a long-term partnership with relayr, a
specialist in industrial solutions in the field of
Internet of Things (IoT). The purpose of this
long-term partnership is to develop Coborn
diamond grinding machines into smart
equipment by introducing digital services
in Coborn products. Thanks to anomaly
detection through relayr’s AI-based analytics,
data collected from these machines will
allow Coborn to deliver pre-emptive service
to each customer, enabling Coborn to offer
machines with improved diagnostics to
The RG9A is a fully automatic, high
precision grinding machine designed
to meet the sophisticated demands of
toolmakers working with both hard and
ultra-hard materials, such as PCD, PcBN,
carbides and ceramics. From simple, single
point shank tools to helical/radius multi-
point rotary tools, the RG9A has all the
characteristics, functions and capabilities
needed to minimize tool production costs.
The RG9A is ideal for tool manufacturers
making both small and large batch sizes.
Individual tool set up times are quick and
the machine is supplied “robot ready” and
the optional Stäubli 6 axis robot can be
added to the machine to facilitate fully
autonomous “lights out” production of
tools.
The RG9A’s construction ensures fast
grinding times and repeatable accuracy to
2µm tolerances and the Coborn designed
and manufactured wheel spindle is
dynamically balanced to ensure minimal
edge chipping of brittle and delicate tool
materials.