Chucks & Jaws

Alfa Tools introduces tungsten carbide-tipped hole cutters for cutting many different types of materials, including construction steel plate, stainless steel, iron, aluminum, copper, cast iron, fiberglass and plastics.

Northfield Precision Instrument Corp. introduces its new safety air reservoir tank. Its purpose is to feed an air chuck with a reserved air supply should you encounter a loss of shop air. This system can keep a chuck in the clamped position for up to 20 minutes, depending on conditions.

Reversible hard jaws from Dillon Manufacturing Inc., which are suitable for ID and OD workholding, can reportedly decrease the time and cost of tool setups, yet still accurately grip and locate workpieces. The jaws hold a specific range of part sizes and are usually used for first operation workholding.

Soft jaw blanks from Dillon Jaws feature a milled surface on the jaw end, opposite to the clamping surface, which serves as an easy-locating feature. This datum serves as a location point for positioning the counter-bored holes and the jaws' serrations resulting in exact dimensional matching of Dillon jaw sets.

The smallest clamping range yet from BIG Daishowa is the Super Slim 3S hydraulic chuck is intended for extremely repeatable high-precision microdrilling and microendmilling in the most challenging work envelopes thanks to its slim nose and tapered body.

MAPAL has expanded its program of narrow-contour HTC (High-Torque Chuck) clamping chucks, whose narrow shapes are produced without a restrictive brazed joint thanks to additive manufacturing. These new chucks can directly clamp diameters of 3, 4 and 5 mm, also allowing hydraulic clamping chucks to be used on the microscale, for example in medical technology or the timepiece and jewelry industry.

BIG KAISER introduces the Mega Perfect Grip from BIG Daishowa, a simple to handle, heavy-duty milling chuck for heat-resistant superalloys (HRSA) that eliminates endmill pullout under heavy torque loads. For manufacturers using milling chucks, pullout is a major issue, particularly when machining HRSAs, such as titanium or Inconel.

Emuge Corp., in partnership with Albrecht Precision Chucks, has introduced Emuge FPC mill/drill chucks that reportedly provide unprecedented rigidity, vibration damping, concentricity, machining speed and tool life versus conventional chuck technologies for milling and drilling applications.

The ROTA NCX, a power lathe chuck from SCHUNK, Morrisville, S.C., features a quick jaw change system and a large through-hole, according to a Feb. 17 announcement from the company. Optimized with reduced-weight, the ROTA NCX is described by the company as an essential upgrade over conventional lathe chucks.

The machines in the VMC MT Series from EMAG LLC, Farmington Hills, Mich., are said to be ideal production systems for chucked parts with complex geometries, according to the company. Whether used for prototype production or for fast changes in small production runs, the VMC MT series is designed to meet the demands of flexible production situations due to the ergonomic accessibility of the machining area and the bottom-mounted workpiece spindle.

Northern Engineering and Manufacturing (NEMI) has released a vacuum chuck compatible with both horizontal and vertical machining centers. This fixture can used either with the Kurt 4-face cage or on a machine bed and is completely compatible with all of NEMI's standard vacuum fixturing.

Mass production components always present challenges: planning the machine installation site, linking machines and coordinating cycle times all to achieve the perfect combination of quality and cost efficiency. The larger the workpiece the more demanding the planning process for the manufacturing set-up. However, optimizing the production of such parts, for example by reducing expensive automation components or reducing the process chain to just a few machines, can drastically cut costs. EMAG's VLC 800 vertical turning center for chucked parts up to 800mm is a production system that combines all these benefits in a single machine thanks to its integrated automation systems.