Brief:
A Biomedical engineering customer set Northfield the following brief. To create chucks to hold heart valves, after coating, to finish grind. They were required to have multiple small internal grip collets and stops to allow fast tooling change over.
Challenge:
The small collet sizes and stop pads made this job unique. We were asked to hold the internal diameter of small multiple sized parts for a finish grinding operation. The internal diameters ranged from .305in (8mm) – .575in (14mm). We were also asked to locate datum that was inside the part on a small banking area.
The varying expansion range of the collet was an additional challenge. The customer part had a coating on it for which there was no set thickness. To solve this, we worked with the customers tolerance range and allowed the collets to expand approximately .040in (1mm) in diameter to allow for this coating variance.
Solution:
Three things were key:
- Accuracy
- Repeatability
- Quick change over times
Our customer has many different part sizes and they wanted minimal down time when switching to a new setup. They could not be happier with the setup and are thrilled with how the project continues to produce accurate parts.
Do you have a unique working holding requirement? Then get in touch now. Our sales team are always available to answer your questions. https://www.northfield.com/contact/
About:
Northfield Precision Instrument Corp.: Northfield is a custom workholding solutions company based in Island Park, New York. Founded in 1952, Northfield designs and produces the most accurate custom chucks in the world, guaranteed from 0.0001″ (2.5µ) – 0.000010″ (0.25µ). Northfield supplies a global customer base across, automotive, aerospace and medical industries.
