News And Updates

From 5th to 10th March 2013, TIMTOS 2013 was held at the Taipei World Trade Center. The biennial exhibition has already become established as a focus for international buyers, and is a prominent international event in the industry. Visitors to Autogrip Machinery’s stand, represented exclusively in the UK and Eire by workholding specialist, Leader Chuck Systems, were able to see first-hand the largest power chuck the company has ever produced.

The machine tool industry forms a crucial element in Taiwan’s manufacturing sector; Taiwan is currently the world’s fourth largest producer of machine tools. As this year’s exhibition is centred on the procurement of top-quality ‘Made in Taiwan’ machine tools and total solutions for industry, the unveiling of the 3-jaw 1,600 mm diameter power chuck was ideal for the show’s focus.

As Leader Chuck’s Managing Director, Mark Jones, explains: “Demonstrating Autogrip’s capability, this particularly large power chuck has been designed and manufactured for a renowned VTL (vertical turning lathe) machine tool builder. The end customer supports the aerospace and oil/gas/petrochemical industries. However, to produce the chuck Autogrip had to invest in a specially built very large grinding machine with 2,000 diameter by 300 mm capacity. It features four separate grinding heads, one each dedicated to inside, outside, surface and slot grinding.”

Autogrip has an established reputation for producing high quality workholding products, manufacturing power chucks and hydraulic rotary cylinders for a number of world class OEM machine tool builders. Leader can offer the complete cost-effective workholding range from Autogrip, with stocks of popular items and spare parts being held at the company’s extensive logistics facility in Leamington Spa.

For bar feed or billet loading precision turning applications Autogrip has a range of through-bore and closed centre standard and long stroke 2-, 3- and 4-jaw power chucks, designed to operate at up to 8,000 rpm. For drilling, milling, grinding and other machining operations, a range of 3-jaw stationary power chucks is available. All the chucks are produced from hardened and ground steel and feature direct lubrication.

All Autogrip hydraulic rotary cylinders are constructed from light-weight materials, with through-bore and closed centre workholding solutions offering class-leading performance characteristics.

Mark Jones concludes: “Not every manufacturer requires a power chuck as large as the one shown at TIMTOS. However, it is important for those that do to know that Autogrip applies the same product quality focus to all of its workholding solutions.”