CREDIT: SPEEDGRIP CHUCK COMPANY
Continuing its 77-year tradition of master craftsmanship in providing high-quality clamping and gripping technologies for the manufacturing industry, Speedgrip Chuck Company announced the availability of three new products. The company’s NDS Quick-Change Mandrel, QCR Quick-Change Receiver, and CSC Contactless Stroke Control improve productivity by making machine workholding changeovers faster and more reliable. Visitors to IMTS 2024 can see these products firsthand in booth #432268 at McCormick Center, West Building, Level 3, in Chicago, Illinois, September 9-14.
“Our new products build on Speedgrip’s heritage and expertise as a leading innovator and producer of standard and customized workholding solutions for the full range of machining applications,” says Speedgrip President Matthew Mayer. “At the same time, they integrate new concepts and technology that keep pace with advanced manufacturing, automation and Industry 4.0.”
As a portfolio company of Stratford-Cambridge Group, Speedgrip Chuck Company provides manufacturers the means to improve efficiency and productivity by reducing cycle times while featuring affordability and durability. For versatility and efficiency, the NDS Quick-Change Mandrel uses a unique rear bayonet mount that pulls and secures the workholding collet from behind, eliminating the need for draw screws. The no-draw-screw (NDS) configuration improves workpiece accessibility to quickly and efficiently combine outer diameter (OD) and inner diameter (ID) turning, facing and grinding into one operation with minimal interference.
Speedgrip’s patented one-piece sealed collet design outperforms the competition and does not break down with extended use under harsh machining coolants. As the most advanced workholding solution currently available, the NDS Quick-Change Mandrel allows for faster spindle speeds without loss of gripping power due to centrifugal force while significantly extending durability and service life.
The NDS Quick-Change Mandrel is highly adjustable with steering screws to compensate for total indicated runout and concentricity, providing repeatable accuracy to 0.0003 of an inch. The unit is available in seven standard sizes ranging from 0.5 to 5 inches for all standard spindle nose configurations and custom sizes are available upon request.
Speedgrip’s QCR Quick-Change Receiver is a manually actuated cam-lock receiving plate that attaches to CNC Lathe spindles and dramatically reduces the time needed to change workholding clamping devices. With the QCR Quick-Change Receiver, the time needed for operators to effortlessly switch ID/OD collets, jaw chucks, or face driver workholding devices on their machines is cut from an hour to five minutes, making them well suited for just-in-time production. Similar to tool retention in the spindle, the QCR has automatic release of the draw connections.
The QCR Quick-Change Receiver is available for all standard nose configurations, for spindle sizes that run from A2-5 through A11 and flatback spindles. For added versatility, the easy-to-use QCR Quick-Change Receiver also comes in a through-hole design for through-spindle bar feeding operations.
“By engineering the receiver so that only two adapter plates are necessary, we’ve made the QCR Quick-Change Receiver as modular and standardized for our customers as possible,” Mayer says.
Rounding out Speedgrip’s new product lineup, the CSC Contactless Stroke Control eliminates the need to manually adjust proximity switches after each workholding clamp changeover and provides fast confirmation of part-clamping position. This smart manufacturing solution automatically displays digital measurement of the cylinder stroke while clamped on the workpiece and machine feedback, stroke position, and real-time workpiece dimension data during operation and sends clamp confirmation signals to machine tool CNCs.
In addition to confirming part and stroke position, the control data aids in determining whether part parameters are in range prior to machining and helps prevent scrap and tool damage if workpiece clamping is not confirmed. Plus, the simple, affordable design quickly mounts to virtually any CNC workholding device and easily retrofits to older machines.
Each of Speedgrip’s new products are American made, in stock for fast delivery and backed by more than 75 years of workholding solution expertise.