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Product category: Machinery and Production Equipment
News Release from: Leader Chuck Systems | Subject: MicroCentric chucks
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial Team on 26 June 2002

Chucks help Currie and Warner hold the
lead

Eight new chucks are enabling Currie and Warner to maintain high quality levels in the cost-effective supply of finished-machined hose bayonet fittings to a leading manufacturer of domestic ovens.

Eight MicroCentric chucks supplied by Leader Chuck Systems are enabling brass turned parts specialist, Currie and Warner, to maintain high quality levels in the cost-effective supply of finished-machined hose bayonet fittings to a leading manufacturer of domestic ovens The 100mm diameter, three-jaw chucks are at the heart of a special-purpose eight-station machine that has been designed and developed by the Birmingham-based precision subcontractor to satisfy the demand for fully machined, ready-to-use fittings

The accuracy and reliability of the MicroCentric chucks are, says head of production engineering Tony Fox, ensuring that Currie and Warner can fulfil that obligation in the most cost-competitive way.

Since its inception in 1855, Currie and Warner has established an acclaimed worldwide reputation for the supply of brass turned parts within the 10 to 67mm diameter size range, supplying OEMs in the water fitting, heating and ventilation, gas, electrical, fire protection and pneumatics industries.

With more than 50 Wickman multispindle autos in use, the BS EN ISO9002-accredited company is renowned for solving particularly complex machining problems.

It does this by combining its considerable levels of multispindle turning skills with innovative secondary operation machining solutions.

As a result, the company is also able to satisfy customers' increasing desire for single-source supply.

The development of the eight-station machine is the latest example of this, as Fox, explains: "The tender for this new job - the volume series production of bayonet fittings measuring 19mm long by 23mm diameter - detailed the need for two accurately positioned through holes of 2.5mm diameter in the component's 3mm thick wall.

While we already had in place the machining capability to satisfy these requirements, cycle times on existing single-station equipment would have made the piece part cost prohibitive.

The job is for a long-standing customer of 15 years, so we didn't hesitate to invest in the design and build of special-purpose solution to enable us to reduce overall cycle times and therefore arrive at a cost-competitive part.

We already use MicroCentric chucks in other special-purpose applications, and are familiar with their accuracy and robustness, so we didn't hesitate to contact Leader Chuck Systems again".

Manufactured to Currie and Warner's own design, the special-purpose machine accommodates the eight chucks on the circumference of an octagonal table.

This indexes each station, in turn, under the vertical drilling spindle, while each chuck is itself indexed at 45 degrees to present workpieces for the two drilling operations.

"As well as enabling us to cost-effectively produce the parts, another advantage of using the chucks in this way is that every hole is drilled from the same datum", adds Fox.

"That means accuracy is maintained between components and across each batch, and scrap is minimal.

Also, inter-operation handling is eliminated.

"Although in this application we index the chucks 45 degrees, the machine's gearing will allow us to index in 15-degree increments to suit any different work that may go onto the machine in the future.

And we could easily and quickly increase flexibility further by adding more machining spindles".

Outlining how Currie and Warner has been capitalising on the 5um accuracy, and the robustness, of MicroCentric chucks for the past eight years or so, Fox says: "We have two other MicroCentric chucks in use on special-purpose machines.

We first used the chuck on a single-spindle CNC drill which processed quick-fit hose connectors, then more recently on a cross hole drilling application.

In addition to its accuracy, robustness and very short jaw travel of only 1mm, which is essential from an operator safety viewpoint, since the parts are manually loaded, the chuck's 'compact' design enables it to be easily fitted into tight spaces.

The self-contained design - the piston is built-into the chuck body - also obviously helps in this respect".

(MicroCentric 100mm chucks are also available with 3 and 9mm jaw strokes.) "The MicroCentric chucks have never let us down, and that's essential in this business - because we can't afford to let our customers down either".

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