Introduction
INTRODUCTION
The ice tray trapped into the freezer compartment or frost sticking to our windshield on winter morning, these are xamples of the strong adhesive power of ice.
Using this natural property we have developed and designed a highly effective clamping system: GF series icing plates*.
Plate cooling is achieved by means of a compressed-air heat exchanger*. A pneumatic thermal control system* allows to obtain a constant temperature and to save on compressed air by acting on the thermal inertia of the icing plate.
Originally designed to meet the needs of space industry workshops, icing plates have since become a necessity in all fields involving the manufacture of delicate parts (medical, electronics, watchmaking, jewelry.).
ADVANTAGES
- any material can be clamped: metal, plastic, graphite, ceramics, honeycomb, fabric, neoprene, rubber .
- parts of any shape are firmly held in place (no more specific assemblies)
- stress-free clamping and unclamping, therefore no risk of distortion or breakage
- high fastening power: 15 kg/cm2 on metal (by comparison, 12 kg/cm2 for magnetization, 1kg/cm2 for vacuum)
- fast, freezes and thaws in seconds
- release of the parts leaves no residue
- increased rigidity for many materials (plastics, raw ceramics, neoprene,...) and improved surface condition
- longer tool life
- easy to set up, plates are compact and monoblock
- operates simply with compressed air**
OPERATION
These compact and monoblock icing plates are very quickly set up:
- connect the apparatus to the compressed air system
- spray water onto the icing plate
- position the part to be machined
- operate the temp control button
- within seconds the water freezes and the part is clamped
- unclamping is done just as fast, by reversing the freeze/thaw valve.
As there is no water thickness under the part, z-axis repeatability depends only on the referential.
Because the plate evacuates the calories generated by machining.
(*) Patented systems
(**) clean and dry air (3.2.2. according to AFNOR E 51.301)