Magnetic workholding solutions cut time and costs

Whether welding, joining or finishing ferrous metals, WDS' new range of magnetic clamps and holders can provide a more cost effective and easier to use alternative to traditional clamps and jigs.

Whether welding, joining or finishing ferrous metals, WDS' new range of magnetic clamps and holders can provide a more cost effective and easier to use alternative to traditional clamps and jigs.

The range includes over 40 different magnetic workholding product lines, including easily removable hand held clamps which provide up to 200Kg of holding force and designs that can securely hold steel tubes or sheets at any angle.

The innovative new designs from WDS benefit from recent technological developments, allowing magnetic workholding solutions to become smaller yet more powerful.

For example, a magnetic mitre clamp with a base length of 15cm can provide an impressive 100kg of pulling power, which makes it ideal for creating 90-degree joins between steel components of almost any profile.

Ideal for custom fabrication, they can be quickly positioned and removed with the minimum of effort when compared to other manual clamps or jigs and are available at a fraction of the cost.

One of the most powerful clamps in the new catalogue section is a larger 90-degree fixed clamp, which secures itself to any metal work surface to provide an instant jig for preparing and fabricating sheet steel, pipes and tubes.

The powerful ferrite magnets inserted in the arms of the clamps offer a potential 200Kg of pull and their design features a handle bar combined with two cam levers for easy removal.

Nonmagnetic casings avoid the attraction of weld spatter and precision machining provides angular tolerances of +/-0.05/100mm, which is comparable to screw based methods of clamping.

When it comes to holding steel components at acute or obtuse angles, adjustable link clamps with three powerful magnetic faces allow for secure clamping in complex positions.

Easily locked, even in the most restricted spaces, the clamps provide an ideal solution for welding applications as they are designed to keep the contact holding surfaces well away from the edges to be joined and can resist temperatures of 100C.

The new range includes other variable angle clamps which offer 25-280 degrees of lockable movement, have all of their edges magnetised and can operate in temperatures of up to 120C.

Powerful earth welding clamps, sheet metal floaters and handling devices are also supplied as well as a range of retrieval magnets that can take the pain out of drops and spillages of ferrous components.

All WDS magnetic workholding products are featured in a new magnetics section in WDS' 2nd edition 2002 catalogue, which features over 10,000 standard parts and workholding products.

The complete catalogue is accessible online at on the WDS website where customers can download 3D files of standard parts to suit most currently supported 3D CAD packages.

From early 2003 a CD-ROM featuring all products plus 2D dxf files will also be available.

Back to top