It is generally just as important how a workpiece is grasped by a machine as how the workpiece should be cut. And how a workpiece should be cut affects how the workpiece should be held. Because of this importance, workholding solutions are necessary to ensure the result of the workpiece is ideal to the client’s expectation. The increasing need for workpieces machined from hard materials like stainless steel, ceramic, titanium, and glass has led to more vigorous machining with higher feeds and speeds. Because of this increase, there has been an advancement in new workholding designs. Choosing workholding to meet machine challenges is just as important as choosing the machine, itself. 

Proper Selection

An effective workflow for machining includes efficiency in design, process, the machine, the right cutting tools, and the right workholding. Typically, the machine and cutting tools receive a substantial amount of attention and workholding is often excluded. By making the proper selection for your workholding you can increase machine efficiency, stability, and safety. So we recommend that during your application setup you consider your workholding options. 

Workholding demands can be impacted by several factors such as the type of material being machined, tolerances, shape, and dimensions. High-volume production runs have a different set of demands than manual machining, with a focus on the consistency of quality over longer periods. When it comes to low-volume production runs, quick-change is generally the best solution.  

In regards to high-volume runs, working with experienced workholding developers ensures all factors are weighed in determining the most effective workholding solution for a particular job. By implementing workholding solutions you can optimize your production runs. 

Selecting the Right Solution

The newer demand for machining hard-to-machine materials has led manufacturers to implement higher cuttings speeds which place more pressure on workholding equipment. Because of higher-cutting speeds, selecting the proper system to grasp the work can be complex. Generally, customized solutions solve the complexity that comes with complicated workpieces and production-runs that call for high-precision and repetition. 

The majority of situations that require custom workholding solutions involve complicated workpieces, like thin-wall workpieces which tend to distort. In such complicated scenarios, workholding should meet the requirement for accuracy, repetition, and rigidity. The workholding accuracy complements other areas of the procedure to ensure the best results. These include production environment and tooling, as well as the volume of the production run. 

The selected clamping solution should be one that is not only effective at the time of selection, however, will be useful well into the future.

The Advantages of Bar Stock 

Bar stock is an adjustable raw material. It is easy to hold, feed, and has a considerable amount of capacity for many parts per bar. Typically, when we think of bar stock and bar feeders, we associate them with turning machines. However, those same advantages achieved in turning procedures can also be applied to your vertical machining equipment. Applying bar stock as the raw material for machining intricate workpieces simplifies material handling requirements. Within the bar’s circumference, a sizable amount of workpieces can be made using only a collet to grasp the bar. 

The demand to manufacture workpieces in a single process to decrease work handling and price of production has led to the development of multi-processing technology such as the mill-turn machine. When the bar feeder is applied to a VMC it gives the ability to continuously provide the machines with blank material.  If the workpiece’s critical dimensions can fit within the circumference of the bar, an unlimited amount of workpieces can be machined with bar stock 

Insight on CNC Collet Chucks

A key consideration in the purchase of a CNC machine is that the workholding system is paired to both the machine’s capabilities and the type of procedures it will be doing. Workholding for turning procedures is generally pretty straightforward; it comes down to the selection of either chucks or collets. 

As a universal workholding tool, a three-jaw chuck operates well for most common turning applications. It can hold a variety of part sizes, can operate at reasonable rotational speeds, and can achieve precision. However, there are other applications where a jaw chuck is not a suitable workholding option, which is why alternative solutions have been developed. The most notable among these is the CNC collet chuck.  

Saving Setup Time

CNC machine shops are increasingly confronted with the demand to accept lower-volume/higher mix work. Setting up a job on a machine tool and leaving it to run for long periods is not as common as it was in the past and the meaning of medium- to high-volume machining has changed. 

To optimize production efficiency, machine shops aim to shorten the time required to change-over a machine tool from one job to another. In a turning application, a machine shop can save time with workholding. A prime example is the use of universal clamping tools such as three-jaw chuck. In the past, changing jaw chucks on lathes used to be time-consuming, but newer approaches are geared toward limiting such obstacles. 

The Future

As the future unfolds there will inevitably be challenges and advancements in manufacturing technologies. Choosing workholding to meet machining challenges is a new area of focus g to provide more efficiency in small quantity runs. Currently, the recognition of its importance has led to the research and development of solutions that have brought about progressive changes, both large and small, which are impacting manufacturing at every level.