Having recently moved to new premises at Dandenong South, Victoria, Dimac Tooling continues to unveil new products and services as it consolidates its position as a leading supplier of accessories and workholding solutions for CNC milling and CNC turning machine tools in Australia and New Zealand.
With more than 30 years of experience in CNC machine tool accessories, Dimac is the agent for many highly respected brands such as Kitagawa, Cooljet, Reven and Eron. The company also manufactures soft and hard jaws in its own CNC-equipped machine shop. After 30 years at its manufacturing facility in nearby Mulgrave, the move to the site in Dandenong South will, according to Managing Director Paul Fowler, further enhance Dimac’s ability to service its clients’ needs.
“These new premises will allow us to operate more efficiently, provide even greater levels of customer service and of course maintain our local manufacturing of soft jaws,” says Fowler. “It will also allow us to develop and expand our product offering of CNC accessories that improve our customers’ bottom line, enhance their productivity and improve machining safety and efficiency.”
More options from Mitee-Bite
Dimac is the exclusive agent for Mitee-Bite products and its latest offering, Modular XYZ Xpansion Pins. The new Modular XYZ Xpansion Pins are designed for tombstone, grid plate and fixture plate applications. The unique, patent-pending design provides accurate location, repeatability and high holding forces for securing parts on the inside diameter.
Two types of pins are available: press fit and threaded. Press fit pins are available in 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, M6, M10, M12 and M16 diameters for custom applications, while the threaded version comes in standard sizes of 1/2, 5/8, M12 and M16 for tombstones and grid plates.
Manufactured from heat-treatable 17-4PH stainless steel, the pins expand up to 0.7mm and the diameter can be machined for specific applications. The top of the pins have a slight taper creating maximum line contact in bore and provides clearance during load/unload. The pins are designed for quick set-ups on secondary operations such as material coming off CNC lathes, prep stations, water-jets or applications outside machining centres.
Press fit pins are intended for press fit or close-tolerance removable slide fit applications installed in a precision bore or a bushing with the centre threaded for the tapered screw. If precise location is not necessary, the pin can be used on top of the fixture plate. Mitee-Bite provides a simple tool to make installation and removal of the XYZ Pins quick and easy.
Threaded pins incorporate an internal rotary broached hex for simple installation and removal from a tombstone, grid plate or fixture plate. Threaded pins may be installed in a drilled and reamed hole for precise location or set in a hardened drill bushing for fixture strength and wear resistance.
“The Xyz Pin provides ‘out of the way’ workholding and accessibility to all work surfaces with absolutely no external clamping,” says Fowler. “This enables access to the entire face and sides of the workpiece without clamping interference. The other key benefit is that because there is no external clamping there is no chance of distorting the workpiece.”
Fowler expects the new XYZ Xpansion Pins to be of interest to a number of different industries including aerospace, medical and general engineering.
“Like all the products we sell, Mitee-Bite XYZ Xpansion Pins will be supported by the full back-up and support of Dimac technical personnel to ensure the right product is specified and operates at optimum performance,” he adds.
Search engine simplifies selection
Dimac has also recently unveiled a new soft jaws search engine, designed to take the hard work out of selecting and ordering the right soft jaw.
“It’s a big claim, but I believe we now have the simplest, easiest to use and most intuitive soft jaws search facility in the entire world,” says Fowler. “It couldn’t be easier to use. For those that already know a part number they can simply put this into the search facility and the appropriate soft jaw will be displayed. Alternatively, if you are unsure of the correct soft jaw, the search can be conducted either pictorially or via a tree format.
“The first step is to select the appropriate jaw type – either a soft jaw or a cross tennon. The next step is to select one of the four standard serration types. If any of the key dimensions are known at this stage they can also be included to aid in narrowing the search. Once this information is provided, a range of available soft jaws is listed along with relevant information such as the part number and all key dimensions. These can then be short listed according to personal preferences.”
Future planned enhancements include the ability to search for either pie or pinch jaws.
Soft jaws have a number of benefits over hard jaws, primarily the ability to grip pre-turned bars as they leave no clamping mark. They also provide flexibility for awkward-to-grip parts where irregular surfaces may be present. After forming, the soft jaws can then be flame-hardened to minimise wear. Additionally, custom soft jaws can be made to wrap around the work piece to minimise deflection or distortion.
Manufactured at the company’s facility at Dandenong South, Dimac soft jaws are precision engineered and made from 1040 or K1144 carbon steel. Accurate control of slot width ensures minimum runout when refitting soft jaws that have been previously machined. Another Dimac feature is that the jaws are safely packed into a convenient and robust storage box for maximum protection. Dimac soft jaws are available in a large selection of sizes covering all brands of chucks and custom sizing to suit any application or workholding.
“We have a huge range that will suit all commonly available power chucks and a big range of sizes for each chuck – in fact for any chuck on the market we’ll have a set of jaws for it!” says Fowler. “We believe our soft jaws are the best on the market, offering outstanding long life and durability in addition to representing excellent value. Due to growth in the market and economies of scale, we haven’t increased our prices for 15 years, and because we manufacture locally we can deliver anywhere in Australia quickly.”