materials & tools
materials & tools acrylic glass. 1975 was the year of the first presentation of a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride turning tool for machining hardened high-alloy steel (over 55 HRc) and cast iron. In 1977, LACH presented the first diamond saw for cutting circuit board materials at Productronica in Munich. All these developments repeatedly showed us that we were dealing with a very hard, tough material in the diamond we had chosen. We constantly sought new ways to explore. The actual brilliant idea – literally spoken – came to me in 1978. That was the breakthrough– and it opened up the possibility of processing polycrystalline diamonds in such a way, that it could be integrated into series tool manufacturing for the first time. The founding of LACH-SPEZIAL-WERKZEUGE GMBH, at the beginning of 1979, followed as a result. This company would soon establish itself worldwide as a pioneer and leader in the development of polycrystalline diamond tools for the wood and plastics processing industry. The initiation of this series manufacturing was followed by a flood of patent applications that documented the know-how and superiority of my realized ideas to the world. Therefore it should come as no surprise that these ideas also led to new solutions in the process of diamond processing. LACH SPEZIAL diamond tools were to be made as quickly and precisely as possible – and all of it automatically. This vision inevitably led – parallel to the development of the diamond tools – to the development of our own machinery. The result of over ten years of experience in the production of polycrystalline diamond tools, combined with five years of special machine development for the production of these tools, is now available as the third generation of machines. These machines, under the series designation M 900, have been so thoroughly tested and refined that we are now pleased to offer this combination of precise German machine tool engineering and modern electronics to our licensees around the world. Patents for this technological development have been filed worldwide. The buyer of these machines will, with the purchase of this machine, simultaneously acquire the licensed right to manufacture diamond tools based on this patented invention.” Pioneering work Soon the machines of the third generation were followed by the fourth, fifth and so on. The know-how developed during the construction of these machines, especially the successful model »Dia-2200-mini« is now available to today’s users, the manufacturers of diamond tools for the wood and plastics industry, both for production and for the sharpening of these diamond tools. Such successes are only achived by teamwork even if the goal seems crazy – this is how pioneering work is done. Many developments and patent applications from the 1980’s testify to this. Polycrystalline diamond tools were quickly indispensable in the production of the furniture, wood, laminate, flooring and plastics industries due to their cost-effectiveness. From numerical carriers (NC) came computer-controlled commands (CNC), making machines faster and more precise. Changes were felt in all areas of life and work. I only need to think of the space shortage before our move to Donaustraße. For example: we had to outsource part of accounting and bookkeeping into containers in the parking lot of Bruchköbeler Landstraße. The continuously increasing sales demanded their price. Every outgoing invoice had to be manually typed by a dedicated team and recorded individually. Or examples from production: technical draftsmen had to create construction and dimensional drawings for the further processing steps at their respective workbenches on their “boards”. Finished workpieces were laboriously engraved in a special department on “engraving machines” (with the Storch nail system); today this can be done in seconds with laser technology. Ultimately, it’s the human being Without really realizing it we all benefited from this “magic” in the 1980’s and 1990’s – documents could suddenly be sent from one place to another over long distances. Personal communication devices were virtually placed in our hands to communicate with others, no matter where they were – and vice versa. But above all it is the person – in the present sense, the employee, who takes up ideas and ultimately realizes them with pioneering spirit. M 900 M-2050-memo-automatic Dia-2100-CNC Dia-2200-mini 16 no. 2, May 2025
materials & tools Important guest at LACH DIAMANT: Horst Lach showing Louis Kapernaros, general manager, the latest developments Horst Lach proudly presenting the recently inaugurated facilities; Peter Frenz, Louis Kapernaros, Host Lach, Hubert Rentsch (left to right) When I think back to this time – the early 1980’s – some names come to mind, names of people who contributed to the success of LACH DIAMANT in big and small things (without claim to completeness): Dipl.-Ing. Günter Hobohm, Rita Stein-Junkuhn, Dieter Claus, Konrad Wagner, Bernd Troyke, Gerhard Mai, Konrad Stibitz, Joachim und Andreas Weber, Kurt Hemerka, Gerd Gottschalk, Edgar Schneider, Martina Titze-Watolla, Wolfgang Huck, Heinz Beyer, Willi Dressbach, Konrad Fuchs, Ernst Hayn, Andreas Hesse, Gerhard Iffland, Georg Hessberger, Marina Schütte-Lottig, Mathias Lottig, Armin Staub, Elfriede Werner, Walter Reichert, Wilhelm Reusswig, Alexander Bart, Wolfgang Gärtner, Günther Pallischeck, Hans-Werner Giese, Rolf Hasselbach, Julius Schröder, Herbert Wießner The impressions and experiences from this time, which are also reflected in my business diaries, are so immense and extensive that they would exceed the scope of the article series “100 years of LACH DIAMANT”. For my wife Margot and me those days were filled with many trips across the USA – partly to win customers for licenses and partly to adjust the “raw material of polycrystalline diamond” to our ideas and growing needs in discussions with the then manufacturer General Electric, Worthington/Ohio. This was successful – not only did the size of the PCD blanks grow from an initial 0 3.4 mm to 0 54 mm, but due to the now-increased quantities purchased, the price of the PCD blanks was significantly reduced, contributing to further acceptance of diamond tools. The image of the pioneer LACH DIAMANT for metal and wood processing was spread at international trade fairs in Germany, Italy, the USA, China and Singapore in those days. However it wasn’t just the diamond tools that were in the focus of interest – it was also the EDG (Electrical Discharge Grinding) machines developed by LACH DIAMANT, which, for example, made it possible to sharpen the developed polycrystalline diamond tools. For illustration I have selected photos from international trade fair presentations from the 1980’s for you. A special PCD milling cutter is automatically and precisely sharpened tooth by tooth on the “mini” by EDG spark erosion In the next article we will share a delightful speech given by a Saxon during our 100 th anniversary celebration, which describes his first, not-so-easy journey from Saxony to Hanau. Stay tuned for that. Horst Lach further information: www.lach-diamond.com no. 2, May 2025 17
