Craftsman Tools wins BAE Systems contract
Craftsman Tools has secured and completed an order for specialist collet chucks from BAE Systems plc that will be used on robotic loading machines during the manufacturing of shell bodies.
BAE Systems is a long-standing customer of Craftsman for a range of mandrels, but it is the first time it has chosen the West Yorkshire business to supply collet chucks.
The main requirement was to allow accurate machining inside shell casings so as not to affect the trajectory of the finished product. Collet chucks proved the best solution; they will not distort or mark the outside of the shell casings as they clamp parts on to the lathe during the internal boring and facing operations.
Craftsman’s designers chose high quality steel, hardened and ground to precision limits with accuracies of 0.005 mm TIR, in many instances. The components were of nominal 105 mm and 4.5” sizes, requiring quick change-over of collets.
All collet slots are fully sealed against swarf and coolant oil. Loading is simple, direct and repeatable, with a positive release incorporated by utilising the machines’ double-acting drawbar system.
Manufacture of the collet chucks took place in Craftsman’s Delaware Cell – the business division responsible for all the company’s workholding products.
Andrew Cassie, manufacturing engineer, from BAE Systems, in Birtley, near Chester-Le-Street, County Durham, explained: “Craftsman Tools has supplied BAE Systems with a variety of mandrels and we have been impressed with the quality of their products. Choosing a supplier that offers a full design service through to manufacture was an important factor in bringing Craftsman Tools on board for the collet chucks.”
Craftsman Tools' managing director, Robert Johnson, commented: “Having an existing customer turn to us for a product we have never previously supplied to them is not only testament to high the quality of work we produce, but also to the one-to-one relationships we have established over the years."
