Creating a reliably repeatable process to position and hold components in place will greatly improve production efficiency by reducing cycle times, maintaining precision, and reducing wear on equipment that results from misaligned components. Hydraulic clamps, or positioning clamps, provide the correct movement and force to ensure maximum efficiency and capacity utilization.
Configuration, installation, and maintenance of hydraulic clamping and positioning systems starts with well defined specifications. There are dozens of manufacturers for hydraulic clamps and each has multiple product lines. Selecting the right clamp at the start avoids unnecessary calibration delays, reduces downtime, and keeps maintenance to a minimum. To ensure you receive the maximum benefit from a hydraulic clamp system, spend the time upfront to find the best fit for your application.
Clamping System Components
Hydraulic Clamps are part of an overall system that has many components. The choice of components will depend on the environment, the materials, and the fabrication or machining process.
Shop environment
The environment for your machining or fabrication impacts the power, size, and configuration of the clamping system.
All systems are comprised of a series of moving part that extend from your machining tools. From swing arms to cylinder clamps, these component require additional space to operate and for maintenance. Articulating arms, stroke length, in addition to size of the equipment must be factored into the design.
While possibly more easily address, power sources for the additional equipment must be determined. When considering the capital requirements, possible alterations to the power supply need to be part of the calculation.
Materials being positioned and clamped
Size, rigidity, tensile strength, and other material factors affect the nature of the Hydraulic Clamping System employed. The psi must be properly balanced to hold the material without damaging it (or the other equipment). Clamping position (edge or internal) must be precisely calculated to allow for proper machining. The hydraulic clamping system is a series of components that must accommodate both the process and the materials.
Contact Kor-Pak to discuss your machining and fabrication requirements and we will help you align with the best manufacturer, designing the system optimally suited to your needs.