What Is a Milling Machine Chuck?
A milling machine chuck is a tooling tool that grips various cutting tools such as end mills and drills and can be attached to the spindle of a machining center or milling machine.
There are various types, from highly rigid types for heavy-duty cutting to slim types for light-duty cutting, according to the shape of the machining center or the purpose of machining.
Some milling shacks have 2- or 3-sided contact surface restraints between the milling shack and the machining center to prevent touching due to high-speed spindle rotation and to ensure accuracy.
Uses of Milling Machine Chucks
Some milling machine chucks are equipped with convenient mechanisms, such as a spindle type that can increase the rotation speed several times and a center-through variety that can supply cutting fluid to cutting tools through the cutting fluid inside the milling chuck.
The shank, which comes in various types, is the part of the milling machine chucks that attach to the machine.
NT shanks are used for general-purpose milling machines, while BT shanks or HSK standard shanks are used for NC machines and machining centers.
Principle of Milling Machine Chucks
Milling machine chuck shanks are classified into No. 30, No. 40, and No. 50 according to size.
The BT shank is mainly used in machining centers and is the most common shank in Japan and overseas. The HSK shank is also primarily used in machining centers. The difference between the HSK shank and the BT shank is that the shank is shorter and does not have a pull bolt. The NT shank is similar in shape to the BT shank but does not have a flange for the ATC (automatic tool change) function. It is used on machines that do not have an ATC function, such as general-purpose milling machines.
What Is a Feeler Gauge?
A feeler gauge, a thin plate-shaped tool, is a gauge (scale) for measuring thin gaps between machines and height adjustment dimensions.
A filler gauge is a metal plate less than 1 mm thick, rolled like tape, and cut to the desired length.
A similar tool is the Thickness Gauge, which consists of multiple plates (leaves) of different thicknesses bundled together like a fan, and the thickness can be changed, while a feeler gauge usually has a fixed thickness.
Uses of Feeler Gauges
Feeler gauges are used for delicate height adjustment of jigs and molds, adjustment of internal gaps in automobile engines, and fine adjustment of machine tools. Metals such as aluminum, brass, copper, and stainless steel are used, and some are hardened. The thickness of these products is relatively easy to process, and many have excellent corrosion resistance because oil adhesion and contamination are expected depending on the environment in which they are used.
In addition, the tape type is generally used by cutting only the necessary amount. The shape and material of feeler gauges are used according to the application.
Principle of Feeler Gauges
This tool measures dimensions in fixed, narrow gaps (1 mm or less) that cannot be measured with other measuring instruments.
While the Siknes mentioned above gauge can be used for a wide range of measurements, such as selecting the desired thickness from multiple thin fan-shaped metal plates or combining them to insert them into a gap between machine parts, the feeler gauges are, in principle, designed to evaluate only a certain fixed thickness, making it convenient for continuously and repeatedly evaluating products with a single standard gap, such as in a factory. Therefore, it is convenient for continuous and repetitive product evaluation of a single standard gap in a factory, for example.
Therefore, it is essential to carefully check the thickness dimension (mm) when purchasing feeler gauges since it is used, for example, for final evaluations of internal combustion engines at factories where the target gap dimensions have already been determined or for preparing multiple types of feeler gauges with different thicknesses in some cases. They are usually 1 m rolls, however, various lengths are also available.
Some tape-type products can be used as shim tape after cutting. Since feeler gauges are generally metallic, they are excellent conductors of electricity and heat and may be processed for specific applications and used as simple gauges.