Machining the globe illustrates the challenges of workholding for fi ve-axis machining.
Agility Delivers Workholding Dollars
Setting targets leads to finding the best solutions
Jim Lorincz Senior Editor
Q
uick change (QC), zero point clamping, modular vises and clamping devices are just some of the buzzwords one hears in the workholding world. Typically stated objectives are reduction in setup time and downtime, increased spindle utilization, and fl exibility to match requirements of automation and increasingly popular
fi ve-axis machining. No industry is exempt. The return on investment can of- ten be measured in hundreds of hours of production time gained over a year, leading to gains measured in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and more. So important are the benefi ts, suppliers of workholding believe, that if only end users can be brought into a meaningful dialogue about their production needs and challenges, decisions to tool up new machines, or retool existing production machines would become self-evident.