Precision Manipulation and Fixturing of Large, Heavy Parts for Welding and Machining

In Booth N-236557, Bluco Corporation (Naperville, IL) will showcase their Powered Manipulators, the ultimate in optimizing worker safety and ergonomics. This line of powered manipulators keeps workers safe from injury by letting motors and hydraulics do the heavy lifting. Instead of sawhorses, a crane and brute force to maneuver a weldment into proper position for weld out, these durable manipulators can lift parts weighing up to 8,000 lb and rotate or tilt them to the desired position in seconds. Built for heavy industrial applications, they feature:

• Fully Adjustable Positioning: Lifting range up to 72 in. Position parts low or high with tilting range of 0 deg to 180 deg, all while being able to rotate 360 deg. No need to be concerned about tilting heavy parts – the hydraulic tilting axis torque rating is designed exceptionally high (up to 32,000 Nm on larger models), and the Powered Manipulator includes a lifetime warranty.
• Heavy Duty Capacity: Offered in both two-ton and four-ton lifting capacities with wide variety of modular table top sizes and options to fit any application. A variety of weight carrying capabilities and modular tabletop configurations are available.
• Completely Modular: The entire line of modular fixturing clamping components interface with the table top to secure any size workpiece.

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Also on display will be Floor Rail Systems that are a practical and economical solution for very large weldments. Fixturing enormous weldments like crane booms, train cars or semi-trailers are far more economical and accurate with a modular floor rail system than building a massive dedicated fixture or linking homemade tables together. These modular systems allow tables and bridges to be accurately pinned to laser-calibrated floor rails wherever a fixturing base is needed in a precision installation using lasers and templates to guarantee the rails will be perfectly aligned. Rail systems start as short as 6 ft and can easily go well beyond 100 ft long to fixture any size weldment. Rails can be installed on top of the floor with toe guard and decking to prevent tripping or grouted flush in the floor. Perf-O-Grip® is placed between rails to prevent both slipping and tripping. A Toe Guard brightly-colored ramp around the perimeter of rail system keeps the workplace safer. A rolling leg option is available for easy movement of table bases. During the show, visitors can speak with application experts on how to solve their lengthy fixturing problems.

Also on display will be 4012 System and 5016 System fixtures for vertical, horizontal and large part machining. For vertical machining, these are more than just an average base plate. Every minute a CNC machining center sits idle while it’s being tooled up for the next job costs a shop money. A modular base plate, along with a kit of precision fixturing components, can get machine tools back up and running and make a shop money in less than half the time it takes an operator to manually setup a job. These fixtures pin together in minutes, not hours or days, unlike outdated manual setups, and include:

• Precision Counts: All hardened and ground components (58 Rc to 62 Rc) are made to high accuracies of ±0.0004 in, as well as the precision bores in the base plates.
• Customer Base Plates: Every base plate is customized to fit perfectly on whatever model CNC machine at no extra cost.
• Rent-a-Fixture: Have a short term fixturing need? Rent everything from a single fixture to an entire kit for as long as it is needed.

For horizontal machining, one kit delivers unlimited fixtures. Dedicated fixtures are great for mass production, but in this age of constant change, low volume jobs, and a need-it-yesterday mentality, a precision modular fixturing system is a far better option in both time and money spent. A modular tombstone with a single kit of reusable tooling can be used to build an unlimited number of fixtures, and in a fraction of the time, it takes to make a costly dedicated fixture:

• Free Exchange Program: A shop may not end up using every component that comes in a kit, but don’t worry – both used and unused components can be exchanged.
• Already Own a Tombstone? Bluco designs modular face plates to attach directly to an existing tombstone so a shop doesn’t have to start over.
• Lifetime Warranty: These fixtures are built to last and are backed up with a lifetime warranty on everything made.

With these fixtures, machining large parts is no longer a problem. Imagine cutting set up time in half for large CNC boring mills, bridge mills and gantry style machines. Bluco’s X-Large, heavy duty fixturing system offers hundreds of precision fixturing components for machinists and fixture designers to choose from to quickly build rigid fixtures on modular base plates. How big is big? Bluco builds baseplates with precision bushings and threaded holes as large as 2 m (80 in) wide by 5 m (200 in) long. Companies can bring their parts to Bluco’s demo center and see a live run-off of fixturing technology. The 4012 System features 40 mm spacing between centers, Ø 12 mm hardened bushings (±0.01 mm / 0.0004 in between centers) and M12 tapped holes. The 5016 System features 50 mm spacing between centers, Ø 16 mm hardened bushings (±0.01 mm / 0.0004 in between centers) and M16 tapped holes.

Bluco Corporation, 1510 Frontenac Road, Naperville, IL 60563, 630-637-1820, Fax: 630-637-1847, www.bluco.com.