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Who do you like for 5 axis workholding?

yoke

Hot Rolled
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Sep 26, 2013
Location
PA
Got our Koma TWA160 installed earlier this week and was trained on a special fixture, which is running now. I wanted to get used to it a bit before making any other tooling decisions but now I'm in need of a 5 axis self centering vise.

Mostly Aluminum and Copper machining where the vise would need to open between 1 and 4 inches. 4 inch width should be ok.

I want to buy quality, but the big thing now is that I can have it here next day.

Who you got?
 
Depends on your purpose. They are good vises but they aren't lang.
Granted I have almost 20 of the 5th axis V562s and only 2 lang...

If you need clearance and security the part will not move use something like technigrip or raptor

Technigrip Workholding Systems

Agreed; I like Lang, not because the vises are amazing (they are, but 5th axis ones are pretty sweet, too.) but because of the whole system. Stick a vise on, stick a custom fixture you mill the studs into on, big monolithic part that won't fit in the vise? stick studs into the part for supreme rigidity. It also works well for mini-pallet fixtures, with excellent location accuracy and quick change outs. Different vise lengths and sizes available, adapters, risers etc.. and a bunch of other tricky little bits.. Even their soft-jaw systems are pretty sweet. Everything is of high quality, repeats well and is fairly interchangeable.

A self centering vise is pretty versatile, but it's not the best choice every time.. Being able to swap back and forth is pretty valuable.
 
Got our Koma TWA160 installed earlier this week and was trained on a special fixture, which is running now. I wanted to get used to it a bit before making any other tooling decisions but now I'm in need of a 5 axis self centering vise.

Mostly Aluminum and Copper machining where the vise would need to open between 1 and 4 inches. 4 inch width should be ok.

I want to buy quality, but the big thing now is that I can have it here next day.

Who you got?

We use the LANG system with great success. You have to buy the "stamper" thing for 5k but in our opinion its the way to go. Much smaller vises needed to get the same clamping force.
 
I went thru this last year, Lang, 5th axis, are nice, but not as nice as the Schunk.. I can get 90 degrees to all of these, depending on the part.
 

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Stick Lang studs on the bottom of a 5th Axis vise? Didn't you guys do that with Raptors?

yeah, but the 5th-axis vise + modified with lang studs was darn near the cost of a lang vise, IIRC.. and they're not quite as spiffy.

We did do that with raptors, and they're starting to see more use than the lang vises themselves; so yeah, I still maintain, the win is the flexibility. Those Schunks look nice. Can I pull them off and locate a raptor in their place in five seconds run a part, stick it back on in five more seconds and have it located within .0002"?
 
The vises are indeed located so they repeat within .0002, however it's going to take you more than 5 seconds. That is fine, I don't do that type of work. The selling point for me was this. You don't need a 5k stamping machine to get the full potential of the Lang's clamping force, this was one of the few vises that had an enclosed thread so all the shit stays out and lasts longer, AND most importantly it had the most clamping force out of all of them. Top that off with the best accuracy and it was the winner for me. FYI some of these vises mentioned, or that will be mentioned, are only accurate to within a few thou, a far cry from their claims. I had one top of the line vise demos that was off .004 out of flat, this is simply unacceptable since all my work pieces come to me with the outsides finished. The Schunks are truly within about .0004 xyz and flatness. The Lang, 5th axis, Raptor are all nice vises, however don't expect to take a precision ground block (aka, mold insert) and expect to get it flat and accurate enough to do finish work. The vises mentioned are one and done clamping, put in a piece of raw stock, make your part and don't ever put it back in.
 
Does anybody have experience with Gerardi?
I've using standard Gerardi vises for several years, and always very satisfied with the performance.
I was wondering about their 5-Axis workholding.
 
Thanks for the input, y'all. I got a 5thaxis on the way. I'm excited to see what it can handle.
 
Stick Lang studs on the bottom of a 5th Axis vise? Didn't you guys do that with Raptors?

One of our smaller 5th axis vises we recently got came in with the 52MM Lang pattern. I was (am) hoping they start putting in the 96MM pattern on their larger ones, standard.
 








 
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