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Product category: Chucks and collets for rotational work
News Release from: Leader Chuck Systems | Subject: Hainbuch collet chuck
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial Team on 09 November 2001

Accurate chucking helps produce the best
pills

Collet chuck is playing a key role in the manufacture of tablet tooling by helping in a stratregy to introduce one-hit production techniques in CNC turning.

A Hainbuch collet chuck supplied by Leader Chuck Systems is playing a key role in the Initiative 2000 technology step change manufacturing strategy being employed by I.Holland to maintain its world lead in the manufacture of tablet compression tooling In conjunction with the introduction of one-hit production techniques on a Mori Seiki twin-spindle CNC lathe, the 0.004mm TIR high-accuracy clamping of the Hainbuch system is ensuring tolerances of 10 microns are consistently maintained in the machining of a wide range of punches and dies

The Mori Seiki machine in conjunction with the Hainbuch chuck has helped to transform punch and die manufacture by minimising floor-to-floor times through a reduction in machining operations - from four on separate conventional machines down to one-hit, single set-up machining - as well as eliminating a grinding operation.

In addition, there is no associated inter-operation handling.

Over 90 per cent of output from I.Holland's impressive shopfloor at Long Eaton, Nottingham - which is fairly described as a production manufacturing operation specialising in precision tooling - goes to tablet press users in the pharmaceutical industry.

The remainder is for the confectionery, healthcare (nutraceutical), cosmetics and nuclear fuel markets.

Indeed, with a database of over 35,000 designs, it would be hard to name a tablet or pill that the company hasn't been involved with! With 160 employees, the company operates on a 24 x 7 basis.

It has around 700 customers worldwide, with 75 per cent of production being exported.

While most of the punches are solid tools, multi-insert tooling is produced for small diameter tablets, ie a nine-tipped tool for producing tablets of 3mm diameter.

Every tool is produced from a pharmaceutical grade 'clean' tool steel of I.Holland's own composition where the levels of carbon, chromium and vanadium, for example, are stringently controlled.

While the company's roots can be traced back to the early 1900s, it is testament to the expertise of the present-day management - and to the company's inherent design and manufacturing skills - that I.Holland today continues to enjoy a world lead in tableting tooling.

For example, Japan is its largest market, where it holds a 25 per cent share.

I.Holland has also retained its enviable reputation for being the 'one-stop tableting tooling solution' provider.

As well as producing the punches and dies for the rotary-type powder compacting presses - some of which can produce 3.5 million tablets an hour - the company also provides tool cabinets, tool measuring equipment and the Vali-Scan laser marking system for tool management.

Manufacturing director Trevor Higgins describes the company's recipe for success as complementing the correct people skills (it has the Investors in People award) with the appropriate production technology, coupled with a philosophy of working closely with customers.

"We endeavour to focus our attention on the users of our tooling rather than the press manufacturers," he says.

"Very few have their own in-house toolrooms, so in effect we specialise in developing unique tooling solutions for most types of press." An essential part of I.Holland's modern-day success story was instigated in 1998 when Initiative 2000, a technology step change, was introduced.

"We implemented a concerted strategy to update and uprate our production facilities," continues Trevor Higgins, "and set about replacing conventional turning, grinding and milling machines with automated production equipment as well as, for example, introducing hard machining technologies.

That's when the first Mori Seiki machines came in." The resultant machine purchases from FredK Pollard and Co saw a series of high-technology machines installed; an MV 40 vertical milling machine, an SL 150 CNC lathe and an SL 153 SY CNC lathe with live tooling.

More recently, the two SL 153 CNC lathes were installed with 14-station gantry systems and the Hainbuch chuck.

With a 680mm swing over the bed and 455mm over the crosslide, the 50-5,000 revs/min SL 153 has a 12-station tool turret and a maximum turning length of 519mm and can accommodate 560mm between centres.

It was the success of the MV 40, in particular, that prompted the additional Mori Seiki installations, explains Trevor Higgins.

"We used the machine for hard milling the punch and die alignment slots, to replace a sequence of machining in the annealed condition followed by heat treatment.

"By hard machining we eliminated any problem of thermal distortion caused by heat treatment.

Now the slots align perfectly every time, giving users punches and dies that are totally interchangeable.

That's a great selling point and, as far as we know, we are the only tableting tooling company to offer such tooling as standard." The MV 40 was quickly followed by the CNC lathes, including the two SL 153 lathes which, like their predecessors, were supplied as a turnkey.

"The overwhelming benefits highlighted by our Initiative 2000 programme spurred the demand for similar savings on the machining of punches," continues Trevor Higgins.

"So, again, we specified our targets then worked closely with Pollard's applications engineering team to achieve those." The barrels vary in diameter from 19mm to 25.4mm and in lengths up to 133mm.

Like before, I.Holland wanted to reduce the number of machining operations and set-ups traditionally required in their manufacture.

At the same time it wanted to eliminate a grinding operation - while maintaining a tolerance and concentricity of 10 microns on every workpiece.

"We are very pleased with Pollard's application engineering skills," adds Trevor Higgins, "and when the SL 153 was specified with the Hainbuch collet chuck we had every confidence that the turnkey would succeed." As well as high-accuracy clamping, the Hainbuch system offers higher clamping forces - up to 50 per cent more, with the same drawbar pull - than a conventional jaw or collet chuck.

The system also differs from standard chucks in being able to securely hold short component lengths.

This, says Leader Chuck Systems, is due to the positive pull-back and clamping action - the clamping head being pulled into a perfectly mating taper.

Together, the Mori Seiki machine in conjunction with the Hainbuch chuck has more than lived up to expectations and it represents an important link in I.Holland's design-to-manufacturing chain that begins with 3D CAD and extends through design prototyping, reverse engineering, finite element analysis and into CNC machining.

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