Automatic Expanding Mandrel with Air Sensing Device: Design and Analysis

In precision machining, expanding mandrels are used for jobs with close tolerances. An expanding mandrel consists of a tapered arbor or shaft, with a thin-slotted clamping sleeve or collet made of hardened steel. The internal tapered and external cylindrical surfaces are ground to a high degree of accuracy, and the mandrel expands to fit the internal bore of the workpiece. Expanding mandrels are, essentially, wedge mechanisms. This paper proposes an automatic expanding mandrel with a novel force transmission system for high stiffness within a novel air sensing system, which allows detection of the correct part position before starting machining. A computational model for determining the dynamic clamping force of the proposed mechanism is developed and implemented using MATLAB. This model considers the influence of the stiffness behaviors of the collet, force transmission structure and workpiece. Additionally, this paper presents the finite element method analyses which were conducted to check the proposed computational model. The amount of clamping force transmitted by a collet chuck holder depends strongly on: clearances, wedge angle, stiffness of the collet chuck holder and workpiece stiffness.