For over 25 years, Rugby-based Mapal Ltd (www.mapal.com) has built up a broad portfolio of clamping products that range from the clamping cartridge to the application-specific hydraulic chuck.

The company has now introduced an entirely new appearance for these items, saying that until now design has played a less significant role during the development of chucks, the focus primarily being on reliable functionality.

As a result, the developers at Mapal had gradually built up a broad portfolio that did not have a uniform appearance.

To resolve this situation, the company involved experts from an award-winning German design agency; their remit was to “build completely new concepts that are based on functional FEM analyses to improve performance, ergonomics and economy for end users”.

One of the elements in the new concept is the brilliant surface finish; this is the result of a specially developed polishing method, which ensures that the chucks are more resistant to corrosion than previous versions.

Also required from the new designs was the ability to quickly identify the chuck of choice, along with self-explanatory ‘handling’ information — including “the blue colour of features such as the actuating screws on a hydraulic chuck”.

The product engineers and design engineers also optimised the chucks by undertaking a complete review of the weight, material selection and size, thereby ensuring that the new designs fully addressed the requirements of stability and vibration dampening.

Mapal says that even the smallest weight saving on a chuck can have an impact that becomes apparent over time.

For example, a light-weight chuck will consume less energy during acceleration and deceleration of the spindle.