subject: Working of Vacuum Workholding by:John Russel [print this page] Vacuum workholding is one of the highly effective techniques for holding thin and irregular shaped or non-magnetic parts. Even though parts that has large surface are ideal, as the holding force is as well large and there are techniques available for holding small parts also. They are well suitable for batches of rectangular or good for square part, which have no through holes, particularly where a high degree of parallelism is necessary.
With various types of vacuum workholding, the part could be profile machined as well as drilled through. On all surfaces of an object you can find an even pressure due to the surrounding atmosphere of about 1 bar (10.9kg per square meter or 14.5 pounds per square inch).
When a vacuum pump is used, the air beneath the module is normally sucked away, so that the pressure load on these lower surfaces is to a degree removed; the clamping or holding force results from the difference in pressure among the lower and upper module surfaces.
The amount of one-sided force is dependable on the amount of beneath force or vacuum generated. Modern vacuum pumps would remove about 98% of all the air under the module while reducing the force there to 20mbar from the 100mbar above the module. The component is generally held by the difference between the upper and lower pressure.
The weather conditions and position above sea level of the vacuum function affects the amount of distinctive pressure accessible and this would as well affect the actual clamping force attained for a specific application.
Applications and advantages
Vacuum workholding offers the following benefits: -
- Clamping with no bend or clamping marks
- Extremely fast compress and un-clamp cycle time
- Machining without shaking - thus defending chatter marks
- Machining area free of clamps for probable multi-surface working
- Suitable for various materials
- Flexible to many different processes
Vacuum Workholding has the following applications: -
