Zone: Workholding

Get Better Before You Get Bigger

indexer Rather than making a major new machine tool purchase just yet, this shop is finding additional capacity on the equipment it already has. What once was a vertical machining center will become a flexible automated production center for unattended machining.

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Automation Helps Move To High-Volume Production
10/14/2008 Modern Machine Shop: This tool manufacturer had to automate its processes after switching from low-volume special orders to high-volume production runs. Since implementing Tsudakoma tilting rotary tables along with robotics and a pallet conveyor, the shop has increased sales by 400 percent.
Faster Change-Overs Allow Focus On Machining
10/3/2008 Production Machining: A creative Midwestern shop shows that its productivity edge runs all the way down to its relationships with vendor partners. With the right clamping and centering device, the company has been able to reduce workpiece change-over times by as much as 50 percent while improving rigidity and precision.
Direct Drive Rotary System Reduces Cycle Time
9/22/2008 Production Machining: In the early 1990s, Mr. Langlois decided to set up a shop specializing in close-tolerance aerospace parts. A friend of his recommended that he consider a colleted-spindle turning machine and suggested that he look into Hardinge lathes. Mr. Langlois purchased a used Hardinge HNC lathe and began making aircraft landing gear bushings.
Hydraulic Workholding Doubles Output
9/17/2008 Modern Machine Shop: When customer-supplied fixtures just weren’t cutting it, this automotive shop turned to Advanced Machine & Engineering for dedicated, hydraulic tombstones to use on its high-volume production runs. The new fixtures have since reduced load/unload time, cycle time and scrap rates while providing error-free loading.
Vise Jaws Carry Shop To New Levels Of Productivity
9/17/2008 Modern Machine Shop: This shop used carrier workholding, in which the workpiece is gripped by a thin layer of extra material, to reduce cycle times. However, the cost of the carrier material and the time taken to remove it sometimes outweighed any cycle time improvements. Vise jaws from Talon Grip Systems that can grip as little as 0.06 inch of material allowed the shop to reduce carrier sizes and fully realize the benefits of this workholding method.

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Overview Of:
Workholding

Workholding refers to any device that is used to a secure a workpiece and hold it in place against the forces of machining. The most basic workholding device is a simple clamp that is screwed into place on a machining center’s table, but workholding can also involve complex fixtures that are custom-built for particular parts. Other common workholding devices include vises and chucks, as well as indexers or rotary tables that are able to change the part’s position while it is held, so the machine can reach various features of the part without the setup having to be changed.

In most machining applications, workholding also locates the part. In turning, for example, a chuck not only holds the part securely but also holds it precisely on the centerline of the spindle. On a machining center, the vise or fixture that holds the part may also hold it in the precise position and orientation where the machining program expects to find it. For this reason, components such as locating pins and workstops that make it easy to place piece after piece in the same location are also common workholding components.