"Customers have been asking for a way to protect their lathe operators from accidental injury when changing perishable tooling with safer to use and set-up live and static tools. The desire to replace the standard hook wrench and collet wrench set-up with a simpler one-handed system to eliminate injuries caused by wrench slippage seems to be universal. BENZ answered their requests with (2) one-handed 15 second or less Modular Quick Change Tooling Systems," said a company spokesperson.
"BENZ Solidfix and BENZ CAPTO offer our customers unique, safe, fast and price conscience one-handed Modular Quick Change Systems.
"How do I keep this from happening? BENZ has been asked this question at least 50 times in the last 12 months. Ask anyone who operates a CNC lathe and they will tell you the risk for injury is high. Ask any shop owner or manager and they will tell you they desire to eliminate any possibility of injury from ever happening," said the spokesperson.
CNC operators should follow proper protocol, i.e.: 1) Remove the live or static tool from the turret, 2) Secure the tool in a vise on the workbench, 3) With both feet flat on the floor use two hands to hold the hook wrench and collet wrench in each hand to release the perishable tool from the collet. If this protocol were followed accidents would be eliminated. But the desire to short-cut the process and speed up broken tool replacement could eventually lead to an accident.
"Why then do lathe operators change the tool in the turret? The answer is simple; it takes a lot of time to follow proper protocol and time is money. Shop owners buy CNC lathes to reduce time and increase profits when turning their parts. Taking shortcuts (leaving the tools in the turret) allow for faster set-ups. Faster set-ups mean more production. Following proper procedures to do a tool change can take 15 - 20 minutes each. This time can be reduced to 5 - 10 minutes by ignoring the proper protocol to change tools," said the spokesperson.
Injuries come from the lathe operator reaching into the lathe with both hands and being off balance. With a hook wrench in one hand and the collet wrench in the other, heavy pressure or a couple taps of a hammer must be applied to the wrenches to break the collet nut loose. All that is needed is a stubborn collet nut, extra pressure, slippage of a wrench and the valued operator is falling into the lathe and suddenly injured.
"BENZ Solidfix or BENZ CAPTO tooling requires one hand. The BENZ Modular Quick Change System can reduce injuries, speed up tool change time to seconds and complete tool exchange in the turret to minutes. The live and static tools can be left mounted in the turret as the operator inserts or removes the adapter while reaching in with one hand, both feet securely on the floor and lock the adapter with a 180°rotation of the locking screw with a T-handle Allen wrench. A complete adapter change can be completed in 10 - 15 seconds. Perishable tools can be set up, exchanged and preset on the work bench utilizing a Solidfix assembly block and a collet wrench," said the spokesperson.
Typical savings per day are reported by BENZ to be 1+ hour depending on the number of set-ups completed. "With 260 work days per year this will equate to an additional 260 hours of machining time or at $75 per hour and additional $19,500 in income per lathe," said the spokesperson.
Watch a video of BENZ Solidfix tooling at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4TK57ajEZI or BENZ CAPTO tooling at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv7r8KtkfUo.
"An additional benefit of the BENZ Modular Quick Change System is that it can reduce damage to the turret and live tools. Most lathe manufactures tell you to remove the tools from the turret when changing set-ups or broken/worn tools. Many turrets use a 'tang drive' to drive the live tool. Changing tools in the turret will destroy the tang on the live tool and the guide inside the turret resulting in costly repairs. By utilizing a modular quick-change system like BENZ Solidfix or BENZ CAPTO operators can eliminate pressure being applied to the tang or internal turret components. The quick-change adapters are inserted and removed with one hand and a 180° rotation of one locking screw," said the spokesperson.
For VDI tooling BENZ also offers a patented BENZ ACE Alignment System that allows the operator to align parallelism of the radial tools. Utilizing one screw to adjust an internal cam positioned around the turret alignment pin from either side of the radial tool (which either side is easier to reach) the parallelism of the radial tool can be adjusted and locked down. This eliminates the time-consuming adjustment of two set screws that pinch the alignment pin mounted in the turret. With the ACE system, the VDI tools can be removed and reinstalled onto the turret without the need to indicate or adjust parallelism again. A BENZ ACE alignment video can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4Tjcu4xtS4.
For more information contact:
John Roasa
National Sales Manager
BENZ Inc.
8325 J. Arrowridge Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28273
704-529-5300
John.Roasa@benz-inc.com
www.Benz-inc.com