When to Use Coated vs. Non-Coated Grinder Plates
For many grinder applications in the food processing industry, coated plates offer significant benefits when compared to standard grinder plates. The following information is provided as a guideline to help decide which technology is best for your application.
Uncoated grinder plates are commonly used in meat grinding and emulsification applications. Coated grinder plates have a higher initial cost and, in some applications, the return on investment does not support their use. Standard uncoated grinder plates are well suited for the following applications:
- Low grinder utilization
- High likelihood of foreign material presence that can damage the plate
For over 15 years, Thomas Precision has partnered with Phygen, a leader and pioneer in surface enhancement focused on reducing wear. High quality surface preparation, guaranteeing both flatness and parallelism, combined with Phygen’s proprietary XVD CrN coating produces a plate that provides unmatched performance in grinding applications.
The benefits of coated plates versus non-coated plates are many:
- Improved product quality
- Reduced metal loss from knife insert and plate contact.
- Maintained knife insert and plate sharpness over a long period of time
- Better product consistency
- Better cut
- Less production downtime associated with plate changes
- Reduced plate maintenance time and expenses (removal from floor, manual or outsourced regrinding/resharpening, replacement intervals)
- Lower temperature rise of metal-on-coating vs. metal-on-metal contact
- Regrinding/recoating by Thomas Precision guarantees 0.002” parallelism on your plates
When to use Thomas Precision Coated Plates
- Well maintained grinders with low chance of foreign material contamination
- Product quality and consistency is critical or needs improvement
- Actions are needed to reduce recurring maintenance work
A Phygen XVD CrN coating is a 0.00012” thick layer bonded to the surface of the grinder plate. It is USDA and FDA approved and is guaranteed not to chip or peel. Over the past 15 years this coating has been used exclusively on Thomas Precision grinder plates, and has demonstrated the highest levels of performance in countless applications across the further meat processing industry.