N.A. Woodworth has introduced the latest series of specialized chucks for gear production...the advanced ‘Quick-Pitch’ Diaphragm PLD (Pitch Line Diaphragm) Chucks featuring quick change, precision top jaw tooling sets. These innovative chucks, utilizing N.A. Woodworth’s long standing radius diaphragm chuck technology, are ideal for gear manufacturing, grinding and hard-part processing where low to medium volume runs are the norm. They provide fast, 60-second changeouts whenever frequent part-to-part changeovers are required.

The system incorporates the use of fixed-length, interchangeable wedge pins that locate and lock on the gear’s pitch diameter, work with pieces having virtually any number of teeth and can compensate for varying teeth spacing and pitch values. The Quick-Pitch PLD models can be used on applications with sun, ring, pinion and output gears with spur and spiral gear tooth forms.

The key to the operation of the Quick-Pitch chuck is its simplistic locating wedge pin design, with each pin set in a jaw that snaps into place to orient and accurately locate each individual pins’ positions relative to the master jaw set. Two half-turn clamp screws securely lock and hold the jaw in place, and just as easily the jaws are released, removed, changed over and retightened with no additional adjustments or setup procedures required. The pins are nitrided to provide a hard, long wearing surface area for greater service life.

The Quick-Pitch Diaphragm quick changeover gear chucks complement N.A. Woodworth’s other gear workholding systems, including the existing Universal Gear modular gear chucking system that adapts to many different gear configurations.