Hey Karl, and anyone else interested. I posted some pictures to the Dropbox a few minutes ago. Look for air clamps in the dropbox. The pictures show a couple clamps, an air collet closer, the switch mounted on the mill, and so on. I've been using the present setup for at least 10 years now. Besides clamping I have also used the setup for blowing air onto an area automatically. So when the quill is raised I have used air to blow chips out of the way while I change parts. I have also used it to turn on and off mist coolant so that the mist is on only when the tool is doing work. I have even used air to blow parts out of the clamping setup. Modern CNC equipment has obviated many of the setups I used to use but there are still some times when I can do an operation manually faster than with the CNC equipment I have. An example: Recently I had to precision saw a few thousand small aluminum parts out of 1/8" thick bar stock. I put the right angle head on the quill and mounted a 4" dia x .094 wide slotting saw on an arbor in the RA head. I then made some aluminum jaws for an air operated vise to hold the aluminum bar stock. The vise was set to open only enough to allow me to slide the stock easily in the vise. I set a stop so each part would be the same length. When I cut the parts the saw cut into the soft jaws. This way the part being sawn off was supported while being cut. This kept the cuts square and all but eliminated any burrs. When the quill is raised the vise opens and when the quill is lowered it closes. Cycle time per part was less than 4 seconds. I supported the stock outboard of the vise so I could use 6 foot long pieces. I was able to consistently hold .003" in total length deviation. I had + or - .005". The parts were tumbled to remove the slight burrs. I think I got 12 cents per part. Eric
- posted
12 years ago