Platinum Tooling Technologies recently created a video highlighting the products the company would have exhibited at its booth during IMTS had the 2020 trade show not been canceled due to the pandemic.
Preben Hansen, company president, presents the various product lines Platinum Tooling offers and highlights the areas of expansion since the last IMTS show in 2018. Platinum Tooling Technologies, Inc. has a wide selection of machine tool accessories for most machine brands.
Due to the budgetary restraints caused by COVID-19, Hansen commented that many buyers are interested in buying tools that can help them do more with their existing machines, rather than investing in new equipment. One example shown was a twin spindle tool which creates a second output from a single turret position. Another tool featured was an adjustable angle tool that allows users to produce a feature on the workpiece with a compound angle without having to re-fixture the part.
Hansen demonstrated the u-tec® flexible changing system for Live Tools offered from their flagship brand, Heimatec. The tool featured was an ER 32 output cross-working tool for a BMT style turret. While standard ER 32 collets can be used in this tool, Hansen explained the beauty of the built-in changing system designed to receive a variety of adapters for different applications. With this system, the customer realizes both flexibility and cost savings.
In addition, Heimatec offers a wide range of Static Tools to complement their Live Tools. This includes boring bar holders, facing holders, standard and half index turning tools as presented. Other new developments from the company include CAPTO output tooling and Live and Static Tools for Citizen machines. Platinum Tooling stocks many of these tools at their headquarters in Prospect Heights, Illinois.
The last tool highlighted from the Heimatec line was a Machining Center Angle Head weighing 12 pounds with an ER 25 output that can hold a 5/8” cutter. At this weight, the tool can be used with almost any Automatic Tool Changers on the market. This is just one of many Angle Head styles offered by Platinum Tooling. As with Live Tools, most Angle Heads are designed with the u-tec® flexible changing system.
The Tecnicrafts line is another area of expansion featured by Platinum Tooling. Collets and Guide Bushings for Swiss type CNC Lathes, specialty collets for CNC cutter grinders as well as 5C & 16C Collets are included in their selection. These high-quality workholding tools are offered in a wide variety of styles and sizes. Many popular items in inch and metric sizes are stocked at Platinum Tooling.
Speed Increasers and Custom Angle Heads from Henninger are also offered through Platinum Tooling. Speeder types include mechanical, air, and motor driven. Mechanical driven speed increasers provide rpm up to 50,000, while air and high frequency speeders offer rpm up to 80,000.
Lastly, Hansen introduced the Cleaning and part Marking tools supplied by AMF. Typically used in toolholders utilizing ER Collets or Weldon clamping systems, these tools can be used independently or in conjunction with each other during the machining process. The high-speed marking tool will permanently mark the workpiece while the cleaning tool washes away unwanted chips. New for Platinum Tooling this year is the AMF gripper. This product is operated pneumatically by compressed air or hydraulically with coolant via the machine spindle for repositioning the workpiece.
For more information about Platinum Tooling Technologies, visit the company's website here.
Related Glossary Terms
- boring
boring
Enlarging a hole that already has been drilled or cored. Generally, it is an operation of truing the previously drilled hole with a single-point, lathe-type tool. Boring is essentially internal turning, in that usually a single-point cutting tool forms the internal shape. Some tools are available with two cutting edges to balance cutting forces.
- boring bar
boring bar
Essentially a cantilever beam that holds one or more cutting tools in position during a boring operation. Can be held stationary and moved axially while the workpiece revolves around it, or revolved and moved axially while the workpiece is held stationary, or a combination of these actions. Installed on milling, drilling and boring machines, as well as lathes and machining centers.
- computer numerical control ( CNC)
computer numerical control ( CNC)
Microprocessor-based controller dedicated to a machine tool that permits the creation or modification of parts. Programmed numerical control activates the machine’s servos and spindle drives and controls the various machining operations. See DNC, direct numerical control; NC, numerical control.
- coolant
coolant
Fluid that reduces temperature buildup at the tool/workpiece interface during machining. Normally takes the form of a liquid such as soluble or chemical mixtures (semisynthetic, synthetic) but can be pressurized air or other gas. Because of water’s ability to absorb great quantities of heat, it is widely used as a coolant and vehicle for various cutting compounds, with the water-to-compound ratio varying with the machining task. See cutting fluid; semisynthetic cutting fluid; soluble-oil cutting fluid; synthetic cutting fluid.
- machining center
machining center
CNC machine tool capable of drilling, reaming, tapping, milling and boring. Normally comes with an automatic toolchanger. See automatic toolchanger.
- turning
turning
Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.