American Workholding Inc. offers Force Gauge, an effective, lightweight, mostly hand-held, direct-reading gauge. It gives an operator, setup man or quality control individual an instant and accurate reading of actual lbs/tonnage force data for many shop floor situations. The anodized aluminum-body instrument may be mounted in a fixed setup for repeated operations to monitor any changes in required force to achieve a given result.

An example is when pressing a bushing into a bored hole. The actual boring bar in a turning center can be compensated as required to adjust bore size, which directly influences tonnage required to press the bushing into the bore. Or a 3-jaw chuck in a lathe running tubing, which would need to be held at a preset pressure to avoid out-of-round conditions.

• Hexagonal shape allows for three-point or two-point linear force readings.
• Large-diameter gauge face, which reads direct lbs of force exerted in the situation being analyzed.
• A quick and easy way to know exactly the clamping force in a 3-jaw lathe chuck setup, as the hydraulic pressure gauge on the machine tool will not deliver a close repeatable value immediately at he jaw/part contact point. This feature alone saves time and money due to less scrap, and quick resetup of a repeating job, where an out-of-round condition is not acceptable.
• ½-13 tapped holes on each of the six faces, (the monitor armature included), allowing for direct mounting into a static setup such as the end of a hydraulic press arbor and giving the operator an accurate direct-force reading.
• Available in three different lbs. per sq. inch ranges: 0-1,000, 0-5,000 and 0-15,000.