Zone: Workholding

Cold Clamping For Small, Delicate Parts

Icing plates use the adhesive power of ice to securely clamp parts of virtually limitless shapes and materials for milling and turning operations.

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Get Better Before You Get Bigger

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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Shop Enjoys Five-Axis Benefits Without The Cost
12/17/2009 Modern Machine Shop: Integrating Lyndex-Nikken rotary tables into three-axis Mori Seiki VMCs provided this shop with five-axis capability at a fraction of the cost of a new five-axis machine.
“Intelligent” Chuck Regulates Clamping Force
12/17/2009 Modern Machine Shop: Hainbuch is working to develop an “intelligent” chuck that monitors actual clamping forces on the workpiece and triggers necessary corrections automatically.
Custom Holder Keeps Needle Maker on Point
11/25/2009 Production Machining: One department at Phoenix Medical Products (Mountain City, Tenn. ) is devoted entirely to needle design, production, sterilization and packaging, as this work has a unique set of challenges and all the concerns of any machine shop that does work for the medical market.
Change This Chuck: Save Setup Time
11/19/2009 Production Machining: Quick change workholding is one way shops are reducing setup when dealing with higher-mix/ lower-voulme work.
Industrial Supplier Aids Job Shop’s Lean Efforts
11/9/2009 Modern Machine Shop: As a small shop, Cross Paths Corporation relies on outside help to maintain a lean, efficient working environment. With fast deliveries of needed products, a free CAD library and a focus on customer service, Reid Supply Company helps the shop keep inventories low and maintain its focus on producing quality parts for customers.

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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.