Modern CNC lathes and tooling permit high cutting speeds and feeds, leading to increased machine efficiency and productivity. To ensure operator safety, however, European Norm EN 1550 states that the gripping force of chucks should be checked regularly. To this end, Kitagawa has introduced the KGFM series of wireless grip force meters, designed to measure […]

At just 99 mm deep, the body of the new Kitagawa CK160 rotary table has a smaller footprint than any other model on the market. The ultra-compact 4th axis is suited to mounting on the table of a BT30-taper machining centre and provides manufacturers with a larger machining envelope on any size of machine. The […]

A large amount of machining is required to produce the pneumatic cylinders, valve assembles and other automation equipment manufactured by Univer at its Bradford factory. Many components are awkwardly shaped and difficult to secure for metalcutting, so the company relies on Chick Workholding equipment from 1st Machine Tool Accessories to ensure rigid clamping as well […]

There are a number of purpose-built 5-axis / 5-sided machining centres on the market, including types with a 4th axis rotary table and either a trunnion support or a swivelling B-axis head to provide the fifth CNC axis. Various companies supply such machines, but none of the configurations suited Brunswick Tooling, Brighouse, a manufacturer and […]

Pragmatism and attention to detail when devising methods for workpiece clamping has boosted production efficiency at International Safety Components (ISC) to the point where manufacturing costs at the Bangor factory are comparable with those in the Far East. Applications engineer, Regan Irwin, is responsible for driving forward innovative workholding arrangements on the company’s lathes and […]

Secure, accurate clamping with 40 kN of torque is offered by a new vice from Kitagawa, Japan, designed to suit a variety of uses where compactness is important, such as on 5-axis machining centres. However, the VAX 125 unit is equally suited to multiple fixturing applications on 3-axis machines. The vice is available in the […]

Omicron UHV Technik is a specialist manufacturing company within the Oxford Instruments PLC group, focusing mainly on producing ultra-high vacuum chambers as well as high precision components and subassemblies for the scientific instrument industry. The company works mainly in 304 and 316 stainless steel plus a small range of copper and aluminium alloys. Batch sizes […]

PAUL SWANN, owner and managing director of Chick Workholding Solutions, explains how an innovative approach to clamping can raise productivity and accuracy, sometimes dramatically. Sole UK agent for the US-made products is 1st Machine Tool Accessories, Salisbury. Machinists tend to be highly talented people, but rather conservative when it comes to exploiting workholding technology to […]

The range of work holding products offered by 1st Machine Tool Accessories has been significantly expanded following an agency agreement with BEST GmbH, Filderstadt, Germany. The company is a leading manufacturer of low-profile, centric (self-centring) vices that are particularly suited to clamping components undergoing multi-axis metal cutting applications on machining centres. There are similar products […]

A machine tool is only as good as the other equipment used with it, as tooling suppliers often say, but the same is true of workholding. It can take a long time to wind the movable jaw on an old-fashioned vice to clamp a component and sometimes it can work loose, resulting in loss of […]