Set-up times reduced from hours to minutes

Around 150 employees at HYDROSAAR GmbH in Sulzbach manufacture all types of cylinders, various rotary unions and production equipment. In a 3-shift operation cylinders of unusual off-sizes are also produced, e.g. for steel production.

The order of a Swedish customer represented a completely fresh challenge. After all, the around 500 kg workpiece was to be manufactured in rectangular off-sizes according to the order. Setting-up presented a real challenge on the 1,000 mm face plate envisaged for the operation. “It was always a matter of aligning the individual jaws with a long lever until the concentricity was obtained”, is how Roman Backes, CAD-CAM programmer at HYDROSAAR describes the setting up procedure. “Sometimes this was done in five minutes, and at other times it took an hour”, continued Mr. Backes. An inefficient situation quite apart from the injury risk. “We naturally looked for a solution to make everything quicker and safer.”

QUICKER AND SAFER SETTING-UP WITH INOFlex^®

HYDROSAAR employees stumbled upon the compensating clamping four-jaw chuck of INOFlex^® from HWR Spanntechnik on the internet. The product ensures that with the chuck clamped, concentricity is always present since the INOFlex^® chuck establishes a centrically compensating clamping across all four jaws by means of a movable link gear. Is that the solution? Clamp manufacturer HWR sends across a sales employee to demonstrate the INOFlex^® principle on-the-spot and provides a test chuck. Mr. Backes, CAD-CAM programmer, is delighted. “We no longer need to take all the trouble to align the component. This is something the chuck does for us. It is absolutely marvellous.”

A WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT IN BRIEF SETTING-UP TIMES

“One screw and the chuck centres itself”, this is the essence of the new setting-up sequence according to Mr. Backes. It combines three benefits for production. “Since the concentricity is always present with this chuck, setting-up times are dependably reduced to a few minutes and the quality is better. At the same time, the employee can now clamp the workpiece very securely”, comments Mr. Backes, the programmer. “Beforehand we had three clamping operations, now we only need two.” The INOFlex^® chuck thus pays for itself within the shortest of times.