b'New U.S.-Based Toolholder Rebuild ServiceTo reduce lead times for rebuilding its toolholderssaid. Its almost like a brand new toolholder when it and increase customer support, this year Index Corp.leaves our facility.established a dedicated service department to rebuildHe said a rebuilt holder costs about 65% of the price of toolholders at the machine tool builders North Americana new one, and a holder can be rebuilt indefinitely unless headquarters in Noblesville, Indiana. something catastrophic occurs, such as a massive impact Index previously sent toolholders to its parentthat snaps off the shaft.company in Germany for repair, which typically tookI would say 98% of the time, the toolholder is going to about eight to 12 weeks to return repaired toolholders tobe able to be repaired, Voyles said.customers, said Matt Voyles, director of customer supportAlthough end users can have third-party spindle and operations. For roughly 80% of common holders, hedoctors repair Indexs toolholders, he said those said lead times are two weeks or less when small batchescompanies generally dont use the same original are repaired at the new service department. equipment manufacturer parts that Index does.We are constantly looking for ways to moreTheyve gone to those third-party vendors but then comprehensively meet our customers needs, he said.come back and say, We only got two months of life out of Weve had a lot of customers tell us that they want thethat, Voyles said, adding that 20,000 hours or more is level of quality we provide when rebuilding a toolholderthe typical life of an Index rebuilt holder. We give a six-but that they cant wait the amount of time it takes tomonth warranty on all of our repairs.send their unit to Germany. To equip the toolholder service department, he said The companys portfolio includes VDI, HSK, MS andIndexs most important piece of equipment was a testing compact shank toolholders. Voyles said customers obtainbench purchased from the parent company.Indexs toolholders either when acquiring a machine toolThis will allow us to test four holders at a time, Voyles that includes a tooling package or as a consumable itemsaid.purchased through Indexs spare parts group. In addition, Index acquired metrology equipment, When Index rebuilds one of its toolholders, ansuch as height gauges, and a specialty grinder to grind engineer fully disassembles the unit and inspects theshims. This ensures that gears correctly mesh and are not housing and shafts, he said. The holder shell is reused,too tight or loose, he said, noting that Index spent about and 60% to 70% of the time the internal shaft is as well.$250,000 on equipment.But all gears, bearings, seals, bolts, screws and otherVoyles said Andrew Powell, lead tool repair technician, components are replaced. handles all the rebuilds, but Index is cross-training Essentially, all wear items are 100% replaced, Voylesseveral other employees to assist with rebuilds and is Clamp Down eliminates the collapsible range intheWestBoylston,Massachu-favor of exact-size collets for popu- setts-based toolmaker sells Fran-lar shank diameters in both inch andken Precision Chuck holders, which metric sizes. are manufactured by partner com-collet style is the most popular tool- Itgivesyoumoreaccuratepany Albrecht.holder, even if its not the best oneclamping onto the shank of the toolHe explained that unlike an ER for a particular challenge. and more clamping force, he said.collet with its relatively steep angle I do think there are opportuni- Its definitely well received, and itof about 30 degrees, an FPC holder ties to provide a more rigid, morewas demanded. has a shallow taper of about 1.5 de-accurate toolholder at times, hegrees to provide a consistent grip-said, but people just tend to fallTaper Time ping force along the entire tool back on that tried, true ER colletEmuge-Franken USA took a dif- shank.toolholder technology. ferent approach to enhancing thatThe taper is whats aligning a Nonetheless, improvements totried-and-truetechnology,saidtool into its sweet spot of concen-the technology are being made.MillingProductsManagerDantricity, Doiron said, and its pull-For example, Raun said Iscar in- Doiron. In addition to a wide rangeing it from the stem versus when troducedalineofcolletsthatof high-performance cutting tools,youre going into the ER collet. Its 30OCTOBER 2022 Toolholding.indd 30 9/19/22 11:14 AM'