Product category:
Workholding - miscellaneous clamping systems, components
News Release from: Hyfore Engineering | Subject: Machine tool work clamping systems
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 27 November 2006
Machine tool work clamping systems are
accurate
Hydraulic clamping is repeatable, accurate, allows people to work their machines hard and cuts cycle times and allow an optimum number of parts on a fixture.
Hydraulic clamping is repeatable, accurate, allows people to work their machines hard and cuts cycle times and allow an optimum number of parts on a fixture Hyfore, a leading manufacturer of hydraulic workholding and automation equipment, has moved to larger premises and taken on more staff to cope with a constantly increasing volume of business
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 3 Mar 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The company, part of the Engineering Technology Group, has seen a 15% year-on-year growth in its business, as customers recognise the productivity benefits that automated part and tool clamping systems can bring.
Important areas in this growth have included the aerospace sector, where it has developed its own zero point tooling systems; high-productivity fixturing for the automotive sector; and its own range of hydraulic clamping elements.
Hyfore's managing director Gary Dickenson said that underpinning the company's success is the fact that it designs and manufactures all its own hydraulic systems.
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"Hydraulic clamping is repeatable, accurate, allows people to work their machines hard and cuts cycle times".
"Our in-house expertise means that we can help the customer get the most out of the technology and help them engineer their work for maximum productivity".
"Our compact and robust clamping systems allow them to fit the optimum number of parts on the fixture and use the highest possible feeds and speeds." For one company in the automotive sector, CNC Speedwell, Hyfore has designed and manufactured over 100 sets of hydraulic fixtures for high-productivity, twin-spindle machining centres.
"Producing fixtures for twin-spindle machining centres is pretty demanding," said Dickenson.
"Each pair of fixtures must be consistent at exactly the same centres as the two spindles and both parts have to be presented in an identical way.
Everything - orientation, height, angle and position on the fixture - has to be precisely matched.
And that can be for multiple pairs of components doing several operations in the same fixture.
We can also rotate the fixtures in a fourth CNC axis and even rotate the parts on the fixture to give five-axis machining on a twin-spindle machine." Hyfore also worked with CNC Speedwell to develop a common location system with quick-fit hydraulic connections so that the fixtures would be completely interchangeable between machines.
In the aerospace industry, Hyfore has supplied some very large systems - including two-metre long rotary cubes for wing components and vacuum fixtures.
To complement these, it has also developed fixturing using zero point tooling technology.
This is a very quick and accurate way of hydraulically clamping and unclamping fixtures to a toolplate using special studs to hold the fixture down.
The same base plate can take a number of different fixtures, and the system can also cut down time by allowing components to be loaded and unloaded during the machine cycle.
"We have supplied these systems for long-bed machining of large components such as wing ribs," said Dickenson.
"They are ideally suited for the aerospace industry where the requirement is often for small runs of large components.
The same machine can be used to machine, say, one large wing rib and then immediately changed over to machine several smaller components.
And by loading up components offline it means that you can cut non-machining time without the need for a pallet changer.
You can even screw the zero point clamping nipples into raw material and clamp it directly to the toolplate without the need for any fixtures at all." To make these sophisticated systems as effective as possible, Hyfore has developed its own range of hydraulic clamping elements and ancillary devices.
These have also been selling well as they offer a number of advantages over standard proprietary products.
"Compared to high-volume branded products we can offer the customer a lot more flexibility and adapt our products to particular applications - and we will still be cheaper," said Dickenson.
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