New universal, high-precision chuck from ITC

2 March 2015

Manufacturers of high-precision components in the aerospace, mould and die, and general engineering sectors wage a constant battle between producing high tolerance parts and a rapid turnaround reality.

To meet this demand, ITC has now launched the WIDIA range of universal high-precision collet chucks for use in multiple applications such as milling, drilling, reaming and tapping. The new chucks can service these processes while maintaining runout accuracies of 0.003mm at 3xD.

Shops looking to upgrade performance and final part tolerance will welcome the features of this chuck, which include added versatility with the ability to continue using standard ER collets while upgrading to precision collets. Furthermore, the new line provides thicker chuck walls and a stronger outer form for added rigidity and lower vibration that extend spindle and tool life. The precision collets also have a unique sealed-by-design feature that provides excellent coolant delivery and longer tool life for all collets from 6 to 20mm. With improved repeatability and balancing, the WIDIA collets from ITC contribute to higher machining accuracy.
Aerospace, mould and die and many other industries regularly encounter high-strength, difficult-to-machine materials that require high torques, feeds, and forces. The danger of milling cutters being pulled out of the tool holder at these extreme forces has significantly increased. This is at least true for tool holders that offer precision clamping with good concentricity such as shrink-fit. Such toolholders work with frictional locking, but their clamping force is often not sufficient for rough machining.

In response, the new WIDIA universal precision collet from ITC is available with Safe-Lock™ pull-out protection from Haimer. Helical grooves are ground into the shank of the milling tool that have respective pin drivers in the chuck to prevent the tool from spinning or being pulled out of the holder under extreme machining conditions. The helical path of the Safe-Lock grooves also allow for adjusting tool lengths, meaning tools can be reground and pre-set as usual.