SA Möbler AB has levelled up its production thanks to ETP HYDRO-GRIP 

The well-known furniture manufacturer SA Möbler AB has improved its production after being introduced to ETP hydro chuck, ETP COMPACT.  The product is also known as the ideal replacement for any ER collet holder - a statement that SA Möbler AB can agree on. – We’ve definitely advanced our operations since we started using ETP:s hydraulic chucks, says Tobias Karlsson, Production Manager at SA Möbler AB. 

SA Möbler AB has manufactured and marketed office furniture designed by selected architects and designers from all of Europe for over a hundred years. Needless to say, the company has broad experience in manufacturing. Since SA Möbler develops all of the furniture in a powerful machine park of more than 15000 square meters, smart ways to streamline the process are always welcome. Last summer SA Möbler were introduced to ETP Transmissions’ hydraulic chuck ETP HG COMPACT, a solution that would lead to several advantages. Although the furniture company wasn’t exactly looking for a replacement for its ER collet holders, the many benefits from ETP HG COMPACT made Tobias Karlsson and his team decide to try something new. Today they’ve exchanged all of the collet holders, allowing the manufacturing process to save time as well as money.
– The result of exchanging our tool holders to ETP:s hydraulic chucks has led to an increased stable operation and an overall longer tool life. We’ve also experienced a much easier tool change which has led us to save a lot of time, says Tobias Karlsson. 

Short and robust design

ETP HG COMPACT has a short design of 75 millimetres, hence the name - compact. Among the benefits, you will find a short overhang, easy handling, a high clamping force and it can be used with reduction sleeves. In SA Möbler AB:s case the manufacturing company has experienced a minimum tool runout which has led to a great surface finish and an extended life cycle of its tools.
– I can certainly recommend others in the woodworking industry to replace their collet holders with ETP hydraulic chuck. In our case, it has given us nothing but benefits, and to be quite frank, we never want to go back to our previous tool holders, Tobias Karlsson concludes.

BALANCE & VIBRATIONS!

One of today’s leading failures on wood working machines are spindle related caused by worn tools or unbalanced toolholders.

The problem goes silent and undetected by the user and unfortunately the spindle and bearings are under incredible stress as a result. So, you ask yourself, “Why is balanced versus unbalanced tooling such a big deal? Well, when you introduce an unbalanced tool at spindle running speeds, the life span of that spindle has been cut down drastically and repair cost goes up by over 50%!

You may ask yourself, “Why is this more prevalent in wood than other industries?”  The explanation is quite simple.  The tolerances are so different when comparing to wood to metal.  In much of the metal industry, tolerances are within microns plus or minus.  In much of the wood working industry the tolerances are more relaxed, usually around .002 of an inch or greater.  When dealing with metal cutting, an unbalanced tool is always noticed with surface finish problems, oblong drill holes, run out issues, and out of tolerance parts. You can not properly do precision machining with an unbalanced tool. 

With the more relaxed tolerances in the wood working industry, the holes don’t have to be exactly round, and surface finish and size tolerances are not as critical to create a good wood product.  The lack of tight tolerances allows companies to use worn or cheaper unbalanced tools while still cutting at incredibly high speeds for fast production.  The problem goes silent and undetected by the user and unfortunately the spindle and bearings are under incredible stress as a result. 

I want to give a great example most people have experienced. We all have been in a car with unbalanced tires. Despite the uncomfortable fatigue coming from the steering wheel, any mechanic will tell you that unbalanced car tires will lead to mechanical failure. Front end component wear, uneven tire wear and even damaged wheel bearings are a result. So, keeping this fact in mind, an average car tire is two feet in diameter and runs at 60 MPH which equals 840 RPM. An average woodworking spindle runs at 15000 to 22000 RPM. Imagine how much more damaging energy is coming from the spindle versus an automobile. 

Our partner, GTI Spindle Technology, conducted a test at a customer’s site cutting plastics and wood on a CNC routing machine. We compared a standard collet chuck tool holder to a precision ETP Hydraulic tool holder. Both tools were inserted into a HSK 63f spindle running 18,000 Rpm using a full vibration spectrum analyzer. The results were very clear. The standard collet toolholder showed .8595 in/sec of unbalanced energy at 18,000 Rpm. This is 14 X over the ISO specification for spindles. The precision ETP Hydraulic toolholder showed .062 in/sec keeping the spindle at ISO spindle specifications! I hope this gives you great insight to better help your spindle and machine run.