Hold It Steady: How to Improve Your Workholding

Posted by Penn Tool Co., Inc on 30th Nov 2022

Hold It Steady: How to Improve Your Workholding

A lot of factors influence the outcome of your parts, but a key element in consistently making good parts versus scrap is your workholding. There are some simple principles that will help you improve your workholding every time. Combined with the right devices, you can customize your workholding to your personal preference and ensure quality parts. At Penn Tool Co., we provide a number of options for you to find exactly what you need.

Lathe Chucks

The standard lathe chuck comes with three jaws but is also available with four or six jaws. No matter the number of jaws, these lathe chucks are specifically designed for lathes. To adjust your workholding, you'll need a four or six-jaw chuck, also called buck chucks. Both can be adjusted either directly on-center or off-center depending on your need. The three-jaw is not able to be adjusted but provides a stronger hold.

Always keep the chuck free of chips and debris. Chips can get everywhere during the cutting process and cause a number of problems. They can get embedded in the part, cause damage to the chuck itself, or even hurt the operator when adjusting the jaws. Being preventative is the best measure in this instance.

Vises

Vises are pretty straightforward. They are used to hold a workpiece between two parallel jaws and are usually mounted on a workbench or on the machine table of a manual mill, CNC mill, or drill press.

Similar to chucks, vises should be kept clean and free of chips and debris. Check your vise for damage and cracks before use to avoid any catastrophic failure such as the vice breaking, the part slipping out, or having the part pulled out. Also, make sure the screw is lubricated and free of rust to keep your vise working properly.

Clamps

Clamps come in all shapes and sizes, but they essentially do the same thing. Clamps either hold something down or holds things together. These versatile and often essential tools are used in most industries. To maintain your clamps, research your specific type and follow some universal tips that can prolong their life.

No matter your clamp type, inspect your clamps for damage before use and make sure you use the correct clamp for your job. Keep all the clamp screws and joints lubricated and free of debris so they'll continue to work well for you.

Magnetic Workholding

Magnetic workholding is used in the welding, fabrication, and machining industries. This type of workholding is useful when a clamp or vise would interfere with the process you’re working on.

When working with magnetic tables, for example a surface grinder, keep the magnetic surface flat and free of divots and scratches. With welding magnets, always keep them free of metal debris and dust to prolong their usefulness. Also, when working with magnets it's a good idea to pick up a demagnetizer to keep your metal parts from becoming magnetized.

Fixturing

When it comes to fixturing, there are a lot of options. Fixturing includes rotary tables, angle plates, collet fixtures, and different combinations of workholding devices. Not only do you have many ways to use this type of workholding, but most of these fixturing stands and mounts have an extreme amount of versatility to be customized to your exact needs.

Some quick tips on maintaining fixturing are:

  1. Make sure any surface that will come into contact with the part is clear of debris.
  2. Any precision ground surface should be free of dings or scratches. If the surface does have dings or scratches, use a fine stone to clean and re-flatten the surface.
  3. Keep all moving parts lubricated and clean.

There you have it, some quick tips for improving your workholding. At Penn Tool Co., we want to help you get the best workholding for your needs. Give us a call or order online. We look forward to helping you with all your tooling needs.