Tech tip for the week of March 27, 2023

Mechanical chucks may be the answer for your core support requirements

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.

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