Allmatic is expanding its tombstone portfolio with the WorkBuddy clamping aid for safe, ergonomic and efficient set-up

Set-up time plays an important role in production: expensive processing machines have to be rapidly retooled and workpieces clamped for processing to minimise downtimes. The clamping of workpieces is key in this process – and what Allmatic-Jakob Spannsysteme specialises in. The manufacturer has now added the WorkBuddy to its clamping system of tombstones. The electronic clamping aid speeds up the loading of tombstones during work preparation and enables ergonomic work that is gentle on the joints. Unwieldy torque wrenches and incorrect tightening torques are now a thing of the past.

Clamping systems are among the most important machine elements for machining centres: a CNC machine can only work quickly and efficiently if workpieces are securely fitted and support the machining process. The fast and reliable clamping of workpieces is essential to ensuring that cost-intensive machine tools are economically efficient. Clamping is generally done using a torque wrench or hand crank inside the machine itself or at an external set-up station. One major disadvantage of this method is the awkward handling – often above head height. This results in physical strain and a loss of working hours, which puts a financial burden on companies. Allmatic has now found a convincing solution for these kinds of clamping processes in work preparation (WP): the WorkBuddy. The WorkBuddy is an addition to the South German manufacturer’s clamping system.

Ergonomic and efficient set-up

The WorkBuddy was developed by Allmatic and has already been used successfully for a long time in the company’s own production for mechanical workpiece clamping. It is mounted on the machine or the set-up station with an easy-to-operate guiding arm. The central tool is an electric torque screwdriver, which is fully adjustable with torques of
20-40 Nm. Thanks to the Allmatic power assist in the tombstones, these torques are enough to achieve the maximum clamping forces (up to 80 kN depending on the type). All it takes is the light press of a rocker switch.
The exact clamping forces are applied once per vice model via a USB interface and called up during the clamping process. This ensures that each workpiece is fixed with the correct torque. All tombstones can currently be operated with Titan 2-/LC-/TC-/NC8- and DUO series spindles.

The maximum opening or clamping speed is 10 mm/s. This is defined by DIN EN 692 as the maximum permissible speed without additional measures for occupational safety. This guarantees short set-up times and minimum. At the same time, the WorkBuddy also relieves the strain on employees at the machine and enables ergonomic work.

 

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ALLMATIC is shifting gears: a delivery time of just four weeks at the most thanks to intelligent planning

As automation moves in, tombstones are gaining ground. However, even so the number of companies that produce them is still relatively small. In most cases, the tombstone is still a special-purpose solutions that has to be custom-made to meet the specific needs of a given customer. This creates unpleasantly long delivery times. “Enough of that,” said clamping device specialists ALLMATIC who now offers a standardised tombstone portfolio for horizontal machining centres that is available for the customer to use in their production facilities within three to four weeks.

lt only takes three steps to click your way through the online navigator and in just a few minutes, you can put together your ideal tombstone, thanks to the new modular product range with a total of 57 available combinations. “Not only have we reduced delivery times, but we are also the only supplier already adding value when customers visit our website thanks to our innovative online configurator,” explains ALLMATIC CEO Herbert Mayr. For now, they are still a niche player in this segment. However, anyone who knows the name ALLMATIC, knows the high quality and service the Unterthingau team endeavours to provide for their customers.

“Standardizing tombstones propels automation,” says Mayr and thus he and his team are trail blazers. All variations of the ALLMATIC tombstones already meet future requirements thanks to their zero point clamping system. With the 3D data and other technical specifications customers can be sure that the solution they have chosen will match their workpieces and machining centres. The online configurator provides support during the selection process, but it cannot be compared to an online shop. “We wish to reduce the internal processing time, but first and foremost the delivery times for our customers. Being in touch with our customers personally remains high priority for us.” Nevertheless, thanks to the intelligent online tools, it will only take a few minutes, not a few days like before, for you can getan offer for your new tombstone.

At the launch of the configurator, ALLMATIC offers nine different spindles and numerous jaw combinations. This way, raw blanks can be machined using the GRIPP technology, as can rough­ machined workpieces with different clamping widths. Up to 2 workpieces can be clamped on either side; the number and positioning of the clamping sides are determined by each individual customer.

“We took our time to think this through and to develop a modular system with which we can beautifully cover most of the specifications.” What was the brilliant idea that the ALLMATIC developers came up with? This supplier has pre-machined workpieces available that only have to be adjusted to meet individual final specifications. Thus, the company that is based in the Allgäu region in southern Germany is less dependent on their own suppliers and can also offer shorter delivery times for the final product in this segment as well.

To tombstone configurator

Short setup times, great high flexibility for machining from 5 sides

With its TeleCentric, the clamping device specialist ALLMATIC-Jakob presents a novel centric 5-axis clamping device with a standard fast attachment bracket system.

Manufacturing and processing plants require a lot of clamping system. On the one hand,
straightforward and fast handling is essential. On the other hand, machine jaws must fixate the work piece securely and with the  minimum amount of vibration. Additionally, the share of 5-axis machines in production halls has been increasing significantly in the last 15 years. With its TeleCentric, the renowned clamping device manufacturer ALLMATIC-Jakob is now presenting a
secure and newly designed solution for clamping on modern 5-axis machines. Both grip clamping as well as conventional clamping are possible.

Raw part on two TeleCentric vices

“The machine vice must not hinder the access of tools and machine spindles to the work piece”, says Herbert Mayr, managing director of ALLMATIC, about the challenge the company faced when the new product was designed. When Rösch and his colleagues designed this new range
of products, they focussed exclusively on centric clamping, hence the name “TeleCentric”. A particular highlight is the telescopic spindle, which features internal and external threads that interlock. This novel design guarantees optimum interference contours with the best possible
accessibility of the machine spindles and the workpiece. Thanks to the centric functionality, there is not zero offset and the material allowance can simply be divided in two because it is fixed symmetrically. Stating the reason for this decision of the designers by saying, the expert says, “The parallel positioning of the workpiece ensures the highest possible clamping accuracy at a maximum loading force of 30 Kilo newton and rather operator-friendly 45 Newton metres at the dynamometric key.” This is the loading force that the TeleCentric brings to the workpiece – thanks to its new lubrication-free telescopic spindle.

Workpiece after machining

Another highlight is that ALLMATIC’s new TeleCentric comes with a standard attachment bracketsystem. No tools are required to adjust the clamping system swiftly to the new workpiece that needs to be machined. Thus, it’s possible to efficiently machine a sixth side by simply changing
a bracket. Of course, the team of developers did not forget larger span widths either. Their
solution? Simply turn the brackets around or provide longer ones.

The TeleCentric meets all requirements that one could have of a machine vice used in today’s 5- axis machining world. With this ALLMATIC product, it doesn’t even take ten seconds to change a pair of brackets, no need for tools, either. Workpieces are placed at a height of 192 millimetres. Even the weight of the TeleCentric is anything but usual: Depending on the model, and without the brackets, it weighs no more than 19.5 kilograms and thus makes it possible to optimize the production process, while guaranteeing great operator convenience in manufacturing plants.

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