Karol Ziecina, a machine specialist at Atlas Precision Manufacturing in South Windsor, Conn., prepares chuck top tooling on a 32-in. diameter, 3-jaw manual chuck.
Royal Machine & Tool Corp. designs and builds custom and standard workholding devices, from simple manual fixtures to sophisticated hydraulic fixtures with multiple faces. It also produces all sizes of custom and standard chucks for rotating and non-rotating applications.
Lately it has introduced a series of chucks for manual vertical lathes, for close-tolerance machining. Royal Machine general manager Guy Byrne explained: “Unlike older inferior designs using cast iron bodies and scrolls that have limited wear ability, our new design boasts superior steel strength, induced wear resistant body, hardened and precision ground master jaws and wedge.
“This produces increased accuracies and wedge style gripping forces where it is pertinent to hold precision and close tolerances in the machining of parts and products made of exotic materials with thin-walled geometries,” he continued.
This “Next Generation” design uses an easy-to-replace pinion gear for added torque and has improved chip protection to help reduce contamination and downtime for maintenance.
Byrne said that the specific features and applications of the new series of manual VTL, large-diameter chucks will be of particular interest to shops targeting aerospace, medical, bearing, and energy and high-tech customers.
All Royal Machine large-diameter power chucks are available in standard 2-jaw, 3-jaw, 4-jaw, and a combination 2/3-jaw configuration with both adjustable and non-adjustable master jaw styles, as well as special requirements for 6 or 12–Jaw and self-contained applications.
The large load-bearing surfaces of the large-size chucks reduce wear, increase accuracy, and extend service life. Easy-access lubricating fittings in each master jaw and chuck body provide lubrication for all wearing surfaces. In addition, the large-diameter chucks’ basic design maximizes chip and coolant protection.
Specifically, large-diameter chucks are offered with additional jaw configurations and are available in direct mount to American Standard ASA B5.9 Type A1, A2, B1, B2, DIN55026-1, DIN-55021-A, and ISO R 702-1 spindles; or with American Standard tongue-and-groove or American Standard Acme serrated master jaws.
