Modular Hydraulic Clamping System

The company’s modular hydraulic clamping system, especially useful for contact manufacturers or OEMs that perform CNC production milling, automates clamping on CNC mills, resulting in reduced load and unload times as well as minimizing idle spindle time. With clamping points available every 2” on center, the system allows for more density under the spindle on the fixture plate. This feature gives users the ability to decrease the total number of tool changes and load sequences required when running jobs, creating more efficiency and capacity.

For maximum flexibility, users can create modular fixture plates using many of today’s standard clamps, the company says. The hydraulic base provides a grid map of clamping points to the fixture builder. Manufacturers can now use all the advantages of hydraulic clamping without the high cost of a dedicated system. Users can make one investment in the hydraulic base and create interchangeable fixture plates for each new job or part. The company also offers a line of standard “off-the-shelf” ID collet and multi-vise fixture plates to help get jobs up and running quicker.

The PAWS system also provides adjustable, consistent clamping pressure on every load with the flip of a switch, the company says. Operator misloads from hand tightening clamps during part load sequences are eliminated. The system also lowers operator fatigue and reduces operator attendance significantly.

Four standard hydraulic base sizes are available: 4" x 19" unit with 18 dual-acting pistons, 8" x 10" unit with 20 dual-acting pistons, 12" x 16" unit with 48 dual-acting pistons and a 16" x 20" unit with 80 dual-acting pistons. Other features of this system are a 0.230 piston stroke and an adjustable clamping force of as much as 3,500 lbs.

Options for the system include a hydraulic pump, interface plates, standard multi-vise fixture plates, standard machinable ID collet fixtures plates, pressure sensors, hard plumbing of hdyraulics and custom workholding solutions.