The automotive industry is constantly raising the bar, creating a high workload for subcontractors in this field which means they really need to attack the material at speed. In some cases, this speed means the bar tends to actually move back, which obviously has a detrimental effect on machining. To solve this problem, there are numerous grooved or hatched grippers, however these can damage the material. So... Is there no solution? We met Alain Marchand, director of Swisscollet SA, who introduced us to double-taper collets.
The double-taper collet has been around for a very long time, and is suitable for both operations and secondary operations. It can be fitted to Tornos turning machines with no modification or restrictions. The material is clamped into the two tapers, which are far enough apart to provide a significantly increased clamping force. This is more than doubled without affecting the quality of the surface. Can this type of collet always be used from now on?
Fine adjustment is required Despite being available as standard in numerous sizes, the double-taper collet is not always the best solution. Mr. Marchand explains: "We have a lot of experience in clamping. Based on our customers’ needs, we can precisely calculate the force and offer the most suitable type of collet depending on the materials to be machined, the friction or sliding coefficients, the cutting conditions or the tools used".
We will come back on these special collets in a further issue of Eurotec.
ECS Swisscollets SA Chemin des Aulx 5 1228 Plan les Ouates Tel. +41 22 706 20 10 Fax + 41 22 706 20 11 [email protected] www.ecs-tools.com
