How Toggle Clamps Benefit Production Processes

Why Do You Need Workholders?

Workholders are devices that help to ensure that a workpiece is properly held, supported, and located during various manufacturing processes. They can aid in quick fixture changeover and offer repeatable sequencing with dependable accuracy for a variety of production needs. Workholders can pinpoint where a machine needs to be, or help to guide it using referential cues. On top of all these capabilities, workholders also help to improve safety on modern production floors.

Workholding devices offer resistance to the force generated by machining operations, thus preventing warping and damage by keeping the workpiece in position. Accurate work is especially important when dealing with tiny parts and thin-walled or irregular shapes. When properly incorporated, workholding devices help machinery perform at its full potential.

They do not cut or tool anything, but workholders remain vital to successful manufacturing, where consistency and precision are must-haves. Components need to be held firmly in place during any cutting, drilling, shaping, or machining to avoid work that falls outside of tolerances. Otherwise, unusable end products lead to waste and expanding budgets, two things that manufacturing companies cannot afford in today’s market.

Types of Workholders

As a workpiece goes through various stages of production, it needs to be kept securely in place. This is where workholders come into focus, and each type is best for a specific purpose and type of workflow. Workholders will differ based on the size and shape of the workpiece they are securing, among other factors. These devices are as varied as their uses.

The term “workholder” is general–vices, toggle clamps, and chucks are some common examples–but workholders can also be custom solutions and robotic systems.

Common groups of workholders include:

Jigs: guide a cutting tool to perform a specific operation while holding and supporting the workpiece in a precise location

Fixtures: hold, support and locate a workpiece from a vertical, horizontal, or angled position

Locators: align a workpiece in a specific position

Supports: function to prevent a workpiece from damage

Clamps: hold parts together and stabilize workpieces

Materials and techniques may change, but the need for workholding devices remains the same. Every part that requires tooling must be held steady, and whether operations are CNC or manual, there is a workholder to do that job.

The Role of Toggle Clamps

Among workholding devices, toggle clamps are versatile and useful in a wide array of applications. They are a highly effective solution for safely securing workpieces in place. A lever-like arm engages and deploys a specific clamping force, which varies according to the model you select. Based on the way they are oriented, toggle clamps will be classified as vertical or horizontal. Vertical clamps apply pressure perpendicular to the base, and horizontal clamps operate in the parallel plane.

The goal when selecting a toggle clamp is to provide maximum efficiency while also ensuring optimal safety on the production floor. Some common applications for toggle clamps include but are not limited to:

Welding
Injection Molding
Machine Tool Positioning
Conveyor Support
Assembly Lines

A toggle clamp is ideal across many applications because it quickly and securely locks in position, but can still easily be engaged and disengaged by the operator. This operational style makes toggle clamps ideal for use in any production scenario that features repetitive processes that require a workpiece to be held in place, worked on, and then quickly removed.

Workholding methods change and advance, but some of the basic elements–like clamping–tend to stay the same. Whether you need horizontal, vertical, hydraulic, or push-pull toggle clamps for your project, it is vital to choose clamps that can put up with the specific requirements of your desired application. This will increase efficiency and safety while also ensuring that the clamps will perform their best and last as long as possible.

ELESA Has the Workholding Devices Your Business Needs

At ELESA we establish the international reference for standard components for use in the mechanical, machinery and industrial equipment sectors. We are committed to advancing our use of technology and design for the ongoing success of our clients. Our thoughtfully designed products are trusted the world over, and workholding devices and toggle clamps are a key part of our total offerings. If you’d like to learn more about how ELESA can help your business succeed, we invite you to investigate our full range of products online, contact us for a customized quote, and download CAD models to see how our components will integrate into your existing systems.