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In today’s complex manufacturing environment it is a certainty
that maintaining operations at optimum levels will require a
significant degree of attention, effort and priority. This is
particularly true of the higher tech elements such as machine
controls, hard working mechanical structures, programming and
general equipment reliability. Fortunately, as a countering
measure there are certain elements that are very robust,
consistent, and that will yield a long lifetime of usage.
Workholding collets fall into this category, having been
historically incorporated in a wide variety of applications and
industries for more than 100 years.
It is not certain when the first
collets were employed, but it has been established that
workholding collets were available before the turn of the last
century. Hardinge, a workholding manufacturer, displays at its
facility, collet drawings and complete line catalogues, which
date from 1901. The production of collets at Hardinge occurred
in the 1890’s, with many of the applications at that time
focusing on the watchmaking and lens industries. This history is
an account for a product that has proven as useful on the early
engine lathes and the cam operated multi-spindle automatics from
the 1920’s, as on today’s
CNC equipment with state of-the-art control systems. As strange
as it might appear, when we look back at what has evolved with
machining and equipment technology, it is as though the basic
collet was suspended in design time and space, while everything
around it was required to adapt to productivity improvements.
This phenomenon of the staying power
of the collet, in light of the rapidly changing technology in
machine tool design, is attributed to the utility and the
elegant simplicity of the device. The collet is a small, but
powerful component to the machine tool industry, incorporating
all of the following features:
•The capability to accurately grip a
workpiece or a tool, resisting both rotational forces and...
...Continued in the pages of Twin Plant News, Subscribe Today!
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