Zero Point Systems For Workholding

We are all constantly looking for cost saving options. Speeds and feeds, optimising cutting tools, tools holders and Workholding. Depending on the work going through the machine shop, you’re maybe producing quality toolroom parts in 1 off’s, or small batch work 10-50 off's, or even high quantity batch work. Either way, setup time for the job always has to be considered.

Assuming you have a standard library of tooling in your machine tool that differs very little from job to job, generally the Workholding setup is the key factor. Your machining process will define the Workholding, and as we all know this could vary from a standard vice, manual chuck, to a special fixture etc.

The setup of the Workholding varies somewhat, but engineers always look for a micron reading on the DTI, it’s a matter of pride, but also knowing your Workholding is correct is half the battle in getting a quality product.

This setup is always time consuming irrespective of the experience level of the engineer. This is where a ZPS base on the table will save a considerable amount of time.

Your milling machine bed, be it rectangular, a round 5th axis table, a face plate on a 4th axis unit or multiple faces on a tombstone, we can add ZPS receivers to accept Workholding.

If I use a 3-axis rectangular bed as a simple example. I would generate a sub-plate mounting and covering the whole machine bed, having multiple ZPS receivers. The layout would depend on the required level of versatility required, and cost needs to be considered. The idea being that if you have a multi vice setup, you could have 3 in a row, or 2 vices and a manual chuck, or a multiple fixture setup, or one large fixture plate.

All of these setups can be released with a hydraulic power pack, with a changeover of a few minutes and a repeatable accuracy of <0.010mm

The investment would be in a sub-plate and then each interchangeable piece of Workholding would require adaptation to add ZPS Nipples, generally a sub-plate of the same foot print of the Workholding. The chosen machine would generally be the one seeing most change overs, and the highest setup time within the machine shop.

Additional machines can repeat the sub-plate setup, keeping the ZPS centres consistent means Workholding becomes a standard item interchangeable between machines, and doubling the time saving on setup, and the consistent setup accuracy.

If saving time on setups is of interest, please give me a call on 07597 198 533, or email me at [email protected]