Schaumburg, Illinois – At this year’s IMTS 2018, in Booth #432312, Kitagawa NorthTech Inc. will be displaying its offering of standard, advanced and engineered workholding. The company will showcase their new and improved version of the Digital Grip Force Analyzer Software kit in its Windows OSP version and in its Desktop version.
The original grip force tool from Kitagawa NorthTech was introduced as a manual, handheld pendant and then evolved into a powerful diagnostic tool kit, incorporating a highly, intuitive user software program that will measure, record and plot the live real time data for Process analysis, safety analysis and maintenance analysis. The Digital Grip Analyzer Kit now comes bundled as a complete kit with rugged carrying case, super powerful Bluetooth dongle, USB flash drive loaded with PC analyzer software, digital load meter and the traditional handheld pendant for the added option of manual diagnostics, testing and measurement.
The Digital Grip Force Analysis Software tool and kit allows service technicians, machine tool operators, and manufacturing/applications engineering to harvest, measure and analyze grip force data from their Workholding processes and equipment. The latest tool offers more advanced grip force analysis capabilities and functions including communications for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT or IoT) and MTConnect and Industry 4.0 applications.
Presently the OSP version is offered by Okuma America, the maker of CNC machine tools, and is available for their customers on their website at the myOkuma.com app store as Kitagawa Grip. The desktop version is available for everyone with just the use of tablet, laptop or PC. By measuring, analyzing, and sharing grip force data, machining operations can determine how to improve or replace inefficient Workholding systems. The software application outputs an Excel spreadsheet with grip force data collected, along with other testing data and a chart graphically detailing this information for users’ Smart applications. Maintaining proper grip force is attained through regular and scheduled maintenance with Kitagawa’s Tri-Kote great. The collected data is also useful for fast retrieval of set-up information for future operation, Workholding testing and diagnostics.