The 100% Swiss-manufactured range offers a number of performance advantages for machine shops using prismatic machining techniques.
The Piranha features parallel, twin cylindrical jaw guides that ensure high precision and clamping force. Designed to act much like a hydraulic press, the hardened and specially coated spindle guides provide an increased surface area for load distribution, while the drive spindle has been tested to withstand pressures above 1,300 Nm².
This capability supports high pressure workpiece clamping with a minimal depth of just 3 mm, so raw material waste is kept to a minimum. The nature of the twin guide design results in an open construction for easy chip evacuation, with any swarf flushed away by the coolant, and an extremely low construction height that makes the most of any machining centre’s working envelope. The very low built-in zero-point clamping system on the base of the Piranha Clamp also provides the optimum interface with the machine tool’s worktable.
Two base sizes are available, the Piranha Clamp 170 is 170 mm long by 90 mm wide, while the larger Piranha Clamp 300 is 300 mm long by 120 mm wide..
Explains managing director Mark Jones: “Designed for the efficient processing of prismatic components or billet raw material, especially using simultaneous 5-axis machining techniques or aggressive raw material removal toolpaths, the Piranha Clamp range of centring vices with Snapper or changeable jaws can improve the precision and productivity of almost any machine shop.
“The clamping forces achieved are phenomenal and, as you would expect from a Swiss manufacturer, the quality and precision is class leading. Tested against established vices that use pre-stamped raw material, at the same clamping pressure the deflection measured in the Piranha range is just one-tenth of that measured in the competitor’s vices. This makes the vice more accurate for both first operations and more repeatable for second operation work.”
