Work-holding, automation equipment and drill-sharpening specialist 1st Machine Tool Accessories Ltd, Salisbury (www.1mta.com), will show its range of products for raising production output and maximising return on investment from machine tools (Hall 20 Stand 560).

Among the innovations on display will be a zero-point clamping system from V-Tech. For clamping workpieces on CNC machining centres, this pneumatic quick-change system features 24kN retraction of the clamping pin in each receiver, plus a positioning accuracy of better than 5µm.

Mechanical vices, clamping chucks and bars, and special work-holding fixtures can be accommodated in the receivers, while positioning slots allow precise 90deg indexing.

The self-clamping mechanism, which uses high-power springs to secure the workpiece and fixture, ensures that the force remains applied after the air has been disconnected (pneumatic power is only required again for release).

Clamping bases are available to hold one, two, four or six receivers, which are 135mm in diameter but only 41mm high, so little Z-axis travel is lost.

From a bar-feed perspective, the latest announcement is that an Industry 4.0 connection is available for any new Iemca bar feeder, allowing constant remote analysis of its condition and operation.

Data is continuously transmitted via an Internet link to a PC, tablet or smartphone. An Industry 4.0-compliant Boss bar magazine with bundle loader will be demonstrated on the stand.

Rotary tables on show will include Kitagawa’s latest TT150 tilting-type compound table with a 150mm faceplate. The TT150 is designed to be interfaced directly with a machining-centre control or operated via a MAC mini controller.

Also featured will be the heavy-duty GT-series models that deliver clamping torques up to 2,800Nm.

Another area of Kitagawa’s business is work-holding, as illustrated by the recent introduction of the KEM series of expanding mandrels for ID clamping (allowing full access to the outside profile of a component for machining).

1st MTA will also demonstrate a Chick Indexer SubSystem (ISS), showing how more components can be presented to a machining centre spindle by adding a fourth axis.

This system, when used on a vertical machining centre, typically comprises four Chick Qwik-Lok twin-station work-holding units mounted on the faces of a Multi-Lok square-section column held horizontally between a rotary indexing table and a tailstock clamped to the machine table.

On a horizontal four-axis machining centre, the Multi-Lok is clamped to the rotary table. In this way, a minimum of eight components can be milled and drilled in a single program, while if machined soft jaws are used, many more can be offered to the spindle, resulting in fewer tool changes per component and even more-efficient production.

Another Chick product on show will be the latest lightweight version of its One-Lok clamping system, which is said to be a ‘superior alternative’ to the conventional wind-up vice.

To further support its work-holding offer, 1st MTA will present permanent electromagnetic clamping systems and materials-handling products from Tecnomagnete, while MillTec Grip magnetic work-holding systems will be displayed for five-axis and five-sided metal-cutting applications.

Finally, Darex — a manufacturer of drill sharpeners, represented in the UK solely by 1st MTA — offers the bench-top XPS-16+ four-axis CNC machine, a collet-chuck version of which will be demonstrated at the show.