ARCHIVED TECH TIPS

Mechanical chucks have some advantages over their pneumatic counterparts. Here are some advantages to using mechanical chucks instead of air chucks:

• Initial lower cost. Mechanical chucks are often simpler than pneumatic chucks, so they are usually less expensive.
• Here's an obvious one - you don't have to inflate them! So, you don't have to run pneumatic piping and inflation devices to use them.
• Most designs are "torque sensitive", which means the more torque you apply to them, the harder they grab. Air shafts and chucks have a set amount of torque they can deliver. If your application demands more torque, air shafts and chucks will slip.
• Mechanical chucks are light weight.
• Most designs are easy to use and core locking may be "automatic" with core rotation.
• Large bore to core size allows for lots of beam strength with large thru shafts and journals.
• Most mechanical chucks can be used as core adapters where larger than normal cores are sometimes needed.

Mechanical chucks have their place for effectively holding a roll in unwind and rewind applications. Often times they are the best choice.