Leader Chuck’s stand at last month’s MACH exhibition featured an engineering cornucopia of new and enhanced products developed to improve the efficiency, productivity and accuracy of just about any machine shop.

“For example, freeze clamping plates from AMCC have proven to be an excellent alternative to magnetic fixtures when securing non-metallic and non-magnetic components,” explains managing director Mark Jones. “Visitors were able to see the plates in action as it is the only way to fully appreciate the holding strength available with ice.”
Autogrip’s range of through-bore and closed-centre standard and long stroke one-, two-, three-, four- and six-jaw power chucks are designed to operate at up to 8000 rpm, while the Lexair Tri-Grip collet closer is designed for use on either vertical or horizontal machining centres, to maximise the raw material loading capacity. Extending the capability of any machining centre was Exact Machinery’s range of CNC rotary tables and indexing units.
New products in the Leader portfolio included a line-up of small self-contained pneumatic jaw and collet chucks from Jato, and an extensive range of dynamic balancing and monitoring solutions from Italian specialist Balance Systems.
Also on show was the Hewa range of two-jaw self-centring indexing chucks, Maprox collet chucks and miniature multi-jaw chucks for watchmakers and metrology applications, and MicroCentric air and diaphragm chucks (pictured). Details of tailor-made workholding and component manipulation solutions from Rotomors were also highlighted, as Leader exclusively offers these solutions to manufacturing and precision engineering companies in the
UK and Ireland.
For further information www.leaderchuck.com

Giving manufacturers complete control and increased speed over their machining operations was high on the agenda when Hyfore headed to MACH 2018. The workholding specialist displayed the latest technology from eight global principals, including advancements in vices, clamp jaws, high-speed tool holders and roller drive rotary tables.

Hyfore also strengthened its relationship as the sole UK distributor of Midaco by showcasing a small pallet receiver, which demonstrated what the pallet changers could look like on a machining table.
“Industrial companies today – at all levels of the supply chain – are looking to get the most out of their machines, whether that is speed, accuracy or capacity,” explains Gary Dickenson, managing director of Hyfore. “One of the ways they can do that is improving the workholding and making sure the part is held in a way that offers the optimum manufacturing efficiency and improves the life of the machine tool.
“This is why MACH was such an important show for us and one where we demonstrated possible solutions and had experts on hand who could talk though bespoke fixtures and some of the other technologies that may help,” he adds. “We are the only UK supplier of products from major brands such as Spreitzer, Matrix, Acrow, Hardinge, Buck, Midaco, Sankyo, UCAM and Kosmek. There was plenty to talk about at the show.”
For further information www.hyfore.com

Aerospace engineering firm JJ Churchill has reduced its tooling costs by 5% with a 50% reduction in the number of machining operations on a specific critical part. This has been achieved with Blue Photon technology, which is marketed in the UK and Europe by NCMT.

The technology is being applied to an aerofoil blade component made from titanium aluminide, an extremely difficult material to fixture and machine. Blue Photon fixes the component to the tool with an adhesive, which cures under UV light, making it strong enough for rigorous machining techniques. The process is a replacement for encapsulation, providing reduced fixture complexity. Operation reduction is achieved by fixing on to a single face of the component, as opposed to potentially many faces.
Locating on a single face provides access to other faces, enabling several complex features to be machined at the same time. This capability delivers greater precision during machining, and ultimately reduces the amount of metal wasted/scrapped.
Once the blade root and tip have been machined (held using Blue Photon technology), the workpiece is transferred to a Starrag five-axis machining centre, in this case a 28 kW/18,000 rpm LX051. The workpiece is held in specifically-developed fixtures for the complete machining of the aerofoil from forged blanks that are, at most, 5 mm oversize.
The impact on JJ Churchill’s overall production is to increase capacity, which is essential as the company continues its growth trajectory, while also benefitting the environment. Using Blue Photon reduces the electricity required for the process.
For further information www.jjchurchill.com