Shrink-Fit Heater with Built-in Cooling
Although shrink-fit toolholding is common in most shops, operator safety is a major concern. This technology enables the operator to handle the toolholder without using gloves.
The hot toolholder has always been one of the seemingly unavoidable hazards of shrink-fit. Operators wear gloves. Yet at IMTS last year, I encountered for the first time an innovation aimed at protecting the operator without gloves: a shrink-fit heater with a quick cooling cycle built in. As part of this heater’s automatic process, the toolholder gets swallowed into the heater’s own housing to receive rapid cooling with a wash of water. The tool starts the cycle cool, and returns to the operator cool. To see this shrink-fit heater in action, watch this video.
