Product category:
Chucks and collets for rotational work
News Release from: Leader Chuck Systems | Subject: MicroCentric chucks
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 26 June 2002
Short travel chucks hold tight
tolerances
Eight robust and accurate chucks, with a very short jaw travel of only 1mm, enable a brass turned parts specialist to maintain high quality levels in machining hose bayonet fittings.
Eight MicroCentric chucks supplied by Leader Chuck Systems are enabling brass turned parts specialist, Currie and Warner, to maintain high quality levels in the cost-effective supply of finished-machined hose bayonet fittings to a leading manufacturer of domestic ovens The 100mm diameter, three-jaw chucks are at the heart of a special-purpose eight-station machine that has been designed and developed by the Birmingham-based precision sub-contractor to satisfy the demand for fully-machined, ready-to-use fittings
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 23 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Hydraulic tool holders made for high speed
Latest hydraulic tool holding range is suitable for high speed and high precision machining operations, such as milling, drilling, reaming, boring and engraving.
Quick-change chuck speeds changeovers
Capable of fast changeovers, a collet chuck has a runout accuracy of only five microns and is a replacement for other styles of collet chucks in bar-fed turning applications.
The accuracy and reliability of the MicroCentric chucks are, says head of production engineering Tony Fox, ensuring that Currie and Warner can fulfil that obligation in the most cost-competitive way.
Since its inception in 1855, Currie and Warner has established an acclaimed worldwide reputation for the supply of brass turned parts within the 10mm to 67mm diameter size range, supplying OEMs in the water fitting, heating and ventilation, gas, electrical, fire protection and pneumatics industries.
With more than 50 Wickman multi-spindle autos in use, the BS EN ISO 9002-accredited company is renowned for solving particularly complex machining problems.
Further reading
Top face operated chucks expanded to 500mm
A top face-operated concentric clamping chuck system range that enables chucks to be grouped closely together has been extended to larger diameters - up to 500mm.
Precision chucks and accurate turning make money
A turning centre fitted with precision collet chucks on its main- and sub-spindles is central to a subcontractor's successful policy of machining small batches of precise, complex parts.
Fast changeover collet chuck is precise
Capable of fast changeovers, a collet chuck design has a runout accuracy of five microns and is as an economical replacement for multi-bore and other styles of collet chucks in bar-fed applications.
It does this by combining its considerable levels of multi-spindle turning skills with innovative secondary operation machining solutions.
As a result, the company is also able to satisfy customers' increasing desire for single-source supply.
The development of the eight-station machine is the latest example of this, as Tony Fox, explains.
"The tender for this new job - the volume series production of bayonet fittings measuring 19mm long by 23mm diameter - detailed the need for two accurately-positioned through holes of 2.5mm diameter in the component's 3mm thick wall.
"While we already had in place the machining capability to satisfy these requirements, cycle times on existing single-station equipment would have made the piece part cost prohibitive.
"The job is for a long-standing customer of 15 years, so we didn't hesitate to invest in the design and build of special-purpose solution to enable us to reduce overall cycle times and therefore arrive at a cost-competitive part.
"We already use MicroCentric chucks in other special-purpose applications, and are familiar with their accuracy and robustness, so we didn't hesitate to contact Leader Chuck Systems again." Manufactured to Currie and Warner's own design, the special-purpose machine accommodates the eight chucks on the circumference of an octagonal table.
This indexes each station, in turn, under the vertical drilling spindle, while each chuck is itself indexed at 45 deg to present workpieces for the two drilling operations.
"As well as enabling us to cost-effectively produce the parts, another advantage of using the chucks in this way is that every hole is drilled from the same datum," adds Tony Fox.
"That means accuracy is maintained between components and across each batch, and scrap is minimal.
Also, inter-operation handling is eliminated.
"Although in this application we index the chucks 45 deg, the machine's gearing will allow us to index in 15 deg increments to suit any different work that may go onto the machine in the future.
And we could easily and quickly increase flexibility further by adding more machining spindles." Outlining how Currie and Warner has been capitalising on the 5 microns accuracy, and the robustness, of MicroCentric chucks for the past eight years or so, Tony Fox says: "We have two other MicroCentric chucks in use on special-purpose machines.
We first used the chuck on a single-spindle CNC drill which processed quick-fit hose connectors, then more recently on a cross hole drilling application.
"In addition to its accuracy, robustness and very short jaw travel of only 1mm, which is essential from an operator safety viewpoint, since the parts are manually loaded, the chuck's 'compact' design enables it to be easily fitted into tight spaces.
The self-contained design - the piston is built-into the chuck body - also obviously helps in this respect." (MicroCentric 100mm chucks are also available with 3mm and 9mm jaw strokes.) "The MicroCentric chucks have never let us down, and that's essential in this business - because we can't afford to let our customers down either!" .
(This was Manufacturingtalk's Top Story on 25 June 2002).
• Leader Chuck Systems: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Manufacturingtalk email newsletter
• Manufacturingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
