Schmalz with magnetic gripper kit for thin sheets

Schmalz is known as a specialist for vacuum grippers. This increasingly no longer only for compressed air, but also for electrically generated vacuum. In addition, magnetic grippers are also offered, as this press release details.

Extremely attractive for thin sheets

For once, it's not about vacuum: With the SGM-HPm, Schmalz has developed a modular magnetic gripper that, thanks to modular gripping elements, can reliably handle thin, ferromagnetic sheets with and without holes or even with complex shapes. Optional sensors ensure that the gripper only takes one sheet.

Sheets vary in thickness, can have holes and recesses, and can be flat or curved. J. Schmalz GmbH has therefore developed the SGM-HPm magnetic gripper construction kit, whose grippers develop high holding forces and can be flexibly mounted. The designation "construction kit" already indicates it: The user can combine the basic body with various gripping elements and thus obtain a product that can master almost any challenge in handling thin sheets. The design ensures that the magnetic field lines run close to the surface. This prevents the unintentional gripping of multiple components.

Compressed air controls permanent magnets

The operating principle is the same for all of them: Inside the magnetic gripper, a permanent magnet controlled by compressed air moves up and down, thus activating the gripper. This means that any ferromagnetic sheet is held securely even in the event of a power failure. Users can mount the SGM-HPm flexibly and use it to maneuver even particularly complex and thin workpieces.

The modular gripping elements make it possible to customize the system. The standard version SGM-HPm-40 holds particularly thin sheets with up to almost 100 percent more force than the previous SGM-HP-40 magnetic gripper. This is made possible by the optimized course of the magnetic field lines. A second gripping element is specially designed for stacking formed sheet metal parts. As an option, Schmalz equips this with sensors that immediately signal via the double sheet control when more than one sheet is hanging on the gripper. Variant three has a centering mandrel. This ensures safe and repeatable placement of the workpieces and precise gripping that is aligned with the holes. The element for 3D surfaces is particularly individual. Schmalz adapts the part that contacts the sheet metal in advance to the component contour to be gripped later.