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Mate Expands Thick Turret Punch Press Tooling Products with Ultra XT™
by Frank Baeumler
Vice President – Marketing
Mate Precision Tooling
The Ultra® family of thick turret punch press tooling products has expanded to include the new Ultra XT™ tooling line. Ultra XT combines long life tool design and
interchangeability features with a trimmed price tag for maximum performance and cost effective hole punching.
Ultra XT is a product family that addresses the demands of punch press operators who want to have quick length adjustment capability for easy use, rapid tool change capability for quick and easy size
changes, and hardened and ground guides to assure longevity of the tools and the machine.
Specifically in the two smaller station sizes, the 1/2” A station and 11/4” B station, Ultra XT uses a stripper disc design feature – a counter bore on the back side of the
stripper – to enable the punches to have an additional .118” (3.0mm) grind life. This counter bore allows the shoulder of the punch to penetrate into the stripper which translates into additional punch grind
life. The 1/2” A station and 11/4” B station also have the angle setting capability on the exterior of the guide body. Exterior angle setting capabilities are possible with the addition of two
guides per station. Each guide has keying at 0° while one of the guides has an additional keyway at 90° and the other has an additional keyway at 45°. The
keying capability of Ultra XT is in contrast to having multiple keying capability on the inside of the guide which is the standard in the Ultra TEC® family of products.
The Ultra TEC 1/2” A station guides have 3 interior keyways while the Ultra TEC 11/4” B station guides have 5 interior keying options.
Ultra XT is designed to be an open architecture system where various punch styles can be installed and used. The punches commonly found in the market
place, like the metric threaded punches, the short body Ultra punches, or the inch threaded punches, can all be used in the Ultra XT design. Setting or adjusting the
setup length of the punch is achieved by depressing a button on the side of the guide assembly and rotating the spring canister. There is no disassembly of the
tool, no separation of the guide from the spring canister, and no tools are required to make these adjustments. Adjustments to the punch length setup are
made in increments of .008” (0.2mm). Because the Ultra system is self-contained, there is also no requirement for a tool length gage or checking
setup since the overall length of the assembly is always set. Only the punch is adjusted as the canister is rotated. Tool set up is achieved in seconds. Changing
punch sizes or shapes is equally as easy since the quick release mechanism is so simple. A mere twist of the locking collar (1/2” A station) or a push of the release
button (11/4” B station) enables the guide and spring canister to separate from each other. The stripper disc slides out of the guide from the side and new
strippers slide in. The new punch size or shape is screwed to the canister and then inserted into the guide. The unit snaps back together with the new punch and
stripper and is ready for installation into the machine...all within seconds and all without tools.
The 2” C and 3-1/2” D and 4-1/2” E station guides are designed with the quick length adjustment feature found on the flagship Ultra TEC product line. A button
on the side of the guide enables quick and easy punch length adjustment in increments of .008” (0.2mm). Simply depress the button and rotate the punch
head. No tools are required. The Ultra XT guides in the three larger stations accept original style strippers as well as original style punches. The appeal to this, and the intent of the product, is simplicity.
The entire range of Ultra XT guides are manufactured with premium steel and are hardened and ground to assure that the up and down stroking action of the
punch press has the least amount of heat build up, lowest possible tool wear, and minimal stress on the punch press. This is good for the tools and the machine as
both run more smoothly and accurately and for a long long time. This contributes to the overall cost effectiveness and productivity of the system.
And, to make the entire system complete, the family of Ultra XT products uses the Slug Free® die design as standard. The die geometry, which looks like an
hourglass, is effective at combating slug pulling concerns because it enables the slug to pass through the die opening with each punching cycle. The slug falls free
from the die and away from the work environment. This is good for the sheet metal products being punched, good for the longevity of the tooling and good for the operation of the punch press.
All these features together, combined with an attractive price, make the Ultra XT a powerful tooling system that can produce top quality parts for your customers
and profitable problem free hole punching for you and your Finn-Power punch press.
For more information, please contact:
Mate Precision Tooling
1295 Lund Boulevard
Anoka, MN 55303
Phone: 1-800-328-4492
Phone: 763-421-0230
Fax: 1-800-541-0285
Fax: 763-421-0285
Web site: www.matept.com
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710 Remington Road