Workholding Trend Adds Flexibility

For bar work or blanks, gripping on the ID of a workpiece affords better access to the entire length of the part.

 

There’s been a workholding trend in Europe for turned parts that consists of improving the flexibility of gripping on the ID or OD of a workpiece. This is especially true of backworking operations on a secondary or subspindle with the capability to change over in minutes. This is in stark contrast to the traditional approach to manufacturing employed in North America of producing parts complete from bar on conventional CNC turning centers with static or live tooled turrets.

This ability to choose ID clamping offers several advantages over simply using traditional OD gripping with a chuck or collet. This includes having the ability to clamp on the center bore, allowing tooling access to the entire length of the workpiece and both ends when using an ID clamping solution, as well as more accurate concentricity between the OD and ID features of the part.

PM learned all about this trend when sitting down with German workholding OEM Hainbuch America Corp., and Chris Koepfer discusses this in his article, “Grip it on the ID.” Read the full article here.