Vacuum plates provide fast workholding solution for thin materials

Designed for machining a wide variety of sheet or thin material, the PA-Ex vacuum plate solution provides rigid clamping without any distortion or mechanical stress being transferred to the part. The vacuum plates are available in three sizes and the smallest V180 has been designed for compact machining centres and engraving machines. It measures 210 by 180 mm and is only 19 mm high to maintain as much of the Z-axis machine travel as possible. Even at this small size, the V180 offers a maximum holding force of 291 kg. The mid-sized V400 is 440 by 400 mm and the largest V600 is 640 by 400 mm; both of these are 29 mm high so multiple plates can be located next to each other to hold larger components. The V400 has a maximum holding force of 1,440 kg, while the V600 will hold up to 2,160 kg. Able to clamp and release within seconds vacuum workholding technology is ideally suited to applications where traditional fixturing could not be used. For instance, when the components are produced from non-magnetic materials, such as aluminium, composites, ceramics or engineering plastics.