Efficient workpiece clamping for 5-axis machining Salisbury-based 1st Machine Tool Accessories (www.1mta.com) will show for the first time in the UK the new Kitagawa Swift Klamp, a rigid workholding product that uses the proven HSK tool interface to provide a secure, low interference, quick-change clamping arrangement that resists bending forces generated during metalcutting operations. Designed […]

Following the launch earlier this year of the manual Swift Klamp HSK workholding system for use on machining centres, 1st Machine Tool Accessories (www.1mta.com) has introduced a new robotic loading and unloading arrangement based on the same principle. It was demonstrated at EMO 2019 on the stand of Kitagawa, for which 1st MTA acts as […]

Subcontract machining of plastic parts constitutes the vast majority of output at the Gloucester factory of Stratos Precision Engineering (www.stratosengineering.co.uk), where the production of a particular component was causing problems that were exacerbated by the need to produce around 5,000 per year. It is an acrylic manifold block for a flow control device that previously […]

The Japanese manufacturer Kitagawa, represented in Britain and Ireland by sole sales agent 1st Machine Tool Accessories, has introduced the first in a new MK-series of general purpose rotary tables. The MK200, which has a 200 mm diameter faceplate, features increased holding torque compared with the MR-series table that has been superseded. The result is […]

Under its sole agency agreement with the Japanese manufacturer, Kitagawa, Salisbury-based 1st Machine Tool Accessories (www.1mta.com) is offering the new Swift Klamp to machinists in the UK and Ireland. The rigid workholding product uses proven HSK tool interface technology to provide a secure, low interference, quick-change clamping arrangement that resists bending forces generated during metalcutting […]

Ideal for production shops where manual mills may still be in operation, but equally well suited to use on a CNC vertical machining centre (VMC), a new, manually adjustable indexing head has been introduced by 1st Machine Tool Accessories, Salisbury. The RotaVice can be rapidly set to position a component at a multiplicity of rotary […]

Reducing job set-up times is key to saving money when machining, particularly if the work repeats regularly. Switching from hard jaws needed for a first operation (op 1) to soft jaws for a second (op 2) requires removing them, cleaning the serrated interface, bolting on the soft jaws, inserting the boring ring and skimming the […]

1st Machine Tool Accessories has introduced a range of workpiece handling cells that allow components to be clamped manually onto pallets, automatically loaded into store and subsequently retrieved for robotic transfer into and out of 3-, 4- and 5-axis machining centres. The equipment is ideal for long periods of unattended and lights-out running and hence […]

Workholding equipment supplier, 1st Machine Tool Accessories – www.1mta.com – has provided tombstones with quick-acting, versatile clamping fixtures for six of the 10 pallets in an Okuma flexible machining cell (FMC) at control valve and marine steering system manufacturer, Hydraulic Projects (Hy-Pro). In addition, 1st MTA has equipped two original tombstones with heavy duty, rapid workpiece clamping […]

A highly repeatable zero-point clamping system in various configurations has been introduced to the UK and Irish markets by Salisbury-based 1st Machine Tool Accessories under a new agency agreement with the Czech manufacturer, V-Tech (www.1mta.com/news/new-zero-point-clamping-system/). Intended primarily for highly accurate, safe clamping of workpieces on CNC machining centres, the pneumatic, quick-change system features powerful, 24 […]