Stratos Precision
Engineering
machines acrylic
manifold blocks more
effi ciently with a
Chick clamping and
indexing solution
Grasping
the benefi ts
Aerospace specialist chooses Lang vices; plastics machining expert invests in
Chick indexing sub-system; subcontractor opts for Big Kaiser tool chucks; plus
latest product news in brief. Steed Webzell provides the details
Based in the heart of what has become
known as Lancashire’s ‘Aerospace
Valley’, Merc Aerospace specialises in
the delivery of small-to-medium volume, tighttolerance
components to demanding
deadlines.
Prompted by continually growing demand,
Merc recently installed an additional
Matsuura (https://is.gd/voxovu) MX-330
PC10 5-axis machining centre, bringing its
dedicated Matsuura cell up to four such
machines. As with its predecessors, the
latest Matsuura model was equipped with
Lang Makro-Grip 5-axis workholding systems,
purchased from Thame Workholding (https://
is.gd/fahawo).
Merc Aerospace commercial director
Richard Meade says: “Having now used the
Lang system for some time, we estimate that
we’ve slashed the time previously spent on
set-ups by as much as 75%. In addition, the
system provides high rigidity and repeatability
of location, when for instance, moving a Lang
vice that is holding a part to a second
machine for further operations.”
When undertaking tight tolerance work,
the secure and robust nature of the Lang
system has helped Merc Aerospace to
achieve its required levels of precision and
surface nish, thereby enabling the company
to further reduce its already low scrap rate.
An additional bene t is that the various
elements of the system have the kind of
compact designs and pro les that provide
good workpiece accessibility. As a result,
Merc Aerospace can adopt its preferred onehit
machining approach and achieve more
time savings. The Lang Makro Grip offers a
clamping force of up to 20 kN and is
available with three jaw widths of 46, 77 and
125 mm.
“As it has considerably increased the
available productive time on our Matsuura
machines and reduced scrap levels, the Lang
workholding system has delivered a much
quicker return on our investment than we
rst calculated,” says Meade.
Maintaining the vice theme, at Gloucesterbased
WORKHOLDING GRIPPING TALES
Stratos Precision Engineering, where
the subcontract machining of plastic parts
constitutes the vast majority of output, the
production of a particular component was
causing problems exacerbated by the need
to produce around 5,000 per year.
MANIFOLD BENEFITS
The part is an acrylic manifold block for a
ow control device that previously had to be
clamped three times in conventional vices
mounted side by side on the table of a Haas
(https://is.gd/fucuba) VF4 vertical machining
centre. This process has now been replaced
by a more modern clamping system based
on a four-sided tombstone and indexing
trunnion supplied by 1st Machine Tool
Accessories (https://is.gd/wexohi).
Speci cally, the solution is a USmanufactured
Chick indexing subsystem that
consists of a Multi-Lok having four faces,
each carrying a twin-position Qwik-Lok clamp
that secures two parts at once against a
central jaw each time the handle is wound to
www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets November 2019 53
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