TuffCam ™ 7 MPa Swing Clamps
Frequently Asked Questions
When do you recommend the use of TuffCam™ 7 MPa Swing Clamps over other Vektek product? Sometimes there are applications where speed is essential. Sometimes size and weight are critical. Often an available power supply limits pressure available. What kind of return on my investment can I reasonably expect by converting my manual clamps to TuffCam™ 7 MPa Swing Clamps? Ask your Vektek sales representative for the Power Workholding Brochure. Time studies and costs are comparable justification. What makes the cam follower ball seat so special in these units? The three cams and three cam balls guide the rotation of the plunger and provide greater guide, support and directional stability. The patented cam follower design is unique in the industry and uses solid tungsten carbide balls and stainless steel ball seats. The ball seat design assures that the ball rolls in the cam rather than jamming and scraping, resulting in wear on both the cam track and ball. This vastly improves swing repeatability, contacting the same point ±0.25 degrees. I want to use work supports with TuffCam™ 7 MPa Swing Clamps. Can you give me some tips that will help me get the most from my clamping devices? Vektek 7 MPa Work Supports and Swing Clamps are made in capacity sets, as well as arm-to-support centerline measurement. It is important to hit my part in the exact place every time in my application. Will your TuffCam™ 7 MPa Swing Clamps meet this requirement ? Standardized repeatability of ±0.25 degrees is "Best-In-Class" Worldwide.
What defines a TuffCam™ 7 MPa Swing Clamp?
I want to use the jam nut only to hold my arm in place. Will this work? It is unlikely that you can use the jam nut to hold arm orientation adequately. We have had customers modify clamps to include flats, pins, serrations or use set screws to hold orientation. These methods may work in specific instances. We still recommend our method of attachment, locknut and cross bolt for a secure, dependable, universal attachment. Other methods may complicate the replacement of clamps when they are damaged by a machine crash or other problems. Why should I buy your arm rather than have my toolmaker make one? Our arm is designed to hold orientation when properly installed. It has a relief to keep from over-stressing the locknut. It will probably cost you less than the total cost of making your own. You can rest assured that our arm is made to our specifications and will withstand the forces our clamps generate, when used as recommended. I need an arm slightly different from those you make. Can I make or modify your arms? Our first recommendation is to modifying our existing arms if possible. All VektorFlo ® arms are able to be machined or welded. You should be able to easily modify any standard arm you purchase. We recommend this because our original design for the cross bolt orientation mechanism is the most secure, dependable and versatile orientation method available. Many customers and competitors have tried to copy it, some with limited success. If you desire to make your own arm(s), refer to the detailed information at the start of Section D. Please be sure to put in the 0.5 mm step for the locknut and relieve the cut in the arm so that the bolt will squeeze the plunger shaft. If you do not take these two steps, your custom arm may not work satisfactorily.
TuffCam™ 7 MPa is a single direction tri-cam design swing clamp. These clamps produce the strength and reliability to support faster speeds and larger arms. TuffCam™ 7 MPa delivers notably better accuracy and repeatability over other brands. The clocking feature, dramatically reduces the time it takes to change arms for maintenance, replacement or design set up. The maximum speed of a swing clamp is applicable to both clamp and unclamp function, as the momentum on the cam track and cam follower apply to both movements. To approximate the speed of your application: How can I measure the clamp speed? * Look down the centerline of the swing clamp, perpendicular to the arm. * Actuate your clamping system while watching the arm “swing” into position. * If while looking directly into the end of the swing clamp, you can observe the arm move through its swing, the positioning time should be somewhere around ½ second or longer. See flow rates and clamping time at the start of Section C. * If, while looking directly into the end of the swing clamp, you cannot observe the arm move, or it is unclamped and the next thing you can see is it is in the clamped position, the positioning time is something substantially less than 1/2 second. Your standard model clamp is at risk of premature failure. See flow rates and clamping time at the start of Section C. * It is possible to approximate the clamp time by adding the total active volume of devices in the specific control branch of your system, and dividing that volume (cubic mm) by your pump’s output volume (cubic mm per minute) and then multiplying that number by 60 (60 seconds per minute). This will give you the theoretical calculated time to move a device through its stroke, but does not account for flow loss due to flow restrictions in the system.
C-1
NOTE: See Arm Length and Pressure Limitation Graphs on Page D-5.
© Vektek February 2021
1-800-992-0236
www.vektek.com
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