Workclamps

Workclamp's are arguably one of the most critical components of a Strippit® turret punch press.  Not only do they prevent the metal parts from being thrown across the room at high speed. They are the surface that gauges the material in the Y axis ensuring accurate parts.  Damaged, unmaintained workclamps make it impossible to safely produce quality parts.

All clamp gage blocks, and bodies are precision machined to ensure matched clamps when bought in sets.  All assembly work completed on a workclamp should include removable Loctite® to ensure reliable service.  We include replacement hardware, and Loctite® with many of our parts.

Our replacement clamps have been designed and manufactured to exceed the functionality of the original equipment clamps.  Our clamps are produced in a precision machine shop, guaranteeing consistent products.

Strippit Work Clamp Avoidance

All Strippit machines manufactured after 1985 included a decent way to detect a Workclamp and avoid it.  However there are many ways to punch a Workclamp either through lack of maintenance, or operator carelessness.

S style manual clamps.....most common cause of a punched clamp is the operator forgets to tighten the Workclamp after moving it.  As the machine scans the position into memory the clamp will move causing the stored position to be wrong...... Without a rescan the machine will likely punch the clamp.  A second problem involves the scan switch or its vane on the clamp being bent.  A quick visual check each morning, and after a crash should insure these items are undamaged.  The sensor is located in the center of the X AXIS carriage.  If you don't know where that is ask your supervisor!  Machine failure of this system is not the problem!

Global, M machines with MANUAL clamp movement

The only way to punch these clamps is leaving them loose after moving them.  The system is quite robust, and therefore a machine error allowing a clamp to be punched is very unlikely!

Global machines with AUTO CLAMP POSITION

These clamps are completely automatic and should be LEFT ALONE

any manual movement is dangerous, and will allow the machine to lose track of the present position of the clamps.  Any manual movement should be followed buy a RESET command before proceeding.  Damage to these clamps is frequently caused by slamming sheets of steel into them.. When material is loaded from over an operators head onto the bed of the machine, damage to the clamp is likely.  The pins are very expensive.  If you punch a clamp on a Global machine due to carelessness the cost can exceed $4000.00.  If in doubt press the RESET button after all manual clamp movement.  This will force the machine to rescan the clamp prior to movement.

H30 machines.

The H30 with auto clamps is different than other auto clamp arrangements.  The machine doesn't have positive confirmation that the locating pin in the bottom of the clamp that moves the clamp is securely in position.  This can cause the clamp to move to random location without the machine having knowledge of the error.  The ONLY reliable method of insuring you don't punch clamps on this machine is to ALWAYS press RESET after a clamp move.  This will force the machine to verify the clamp position prior to punching.  I highly recommend that a clamp strip is used with this machine at all times due to this design flaw.  A daily check of pin engagement in the work clamp during relocation would reduce the chance of damage.