Waterproofing Your Chuck

Contact: Ben Nordman, Marketing & Communications Manager

Waterproofed terminal boxes

Many of the electromagnetic chucks that we have come in for repair are due to liquid or moisture getting into the chuck, typically some kind of coolant. The liquid or moisture makes its way to the coils, where, as with anything electrical, it causes a short in the circuit of the magnet wire, which will either cause complete or partial failure of the magnet.

We first used our waterproofing material in our chucks when we were working with a customer who was using a lot of coolants for their machining process. When an excess amount of coolant is used, obviously, there is more opportunity for moisture to find its way into the chuck through weldments, steel-to-steel seams, and terminal boxes. Coating all those high-risk areas of the chuck is essential to keeping both the chuck and the user’s machine running smoothly.

While there are many things that can go wrong in a chuck to make it need a repair, “waterproofing” the chuck reduces, but will not eliminate, the number of repairs that come in due to a coil shorting out.

The most common risk area that we see with moisture entering the chuck is through the terminal box. It is the least sealed part of the chuck and the origin for all electrical connections in the chuck circuit.

When providing an evaluation for a chuck that is down, the terminal box is the first place we will look and test. Once the chuck is open, we can diagnose further what happened and how we’ll fix it. Often, we’re in the troubleshooting business when it comes to machine tools being down, and addressing the most common issues we find head-on is how we fix the problem.

As a standard, we waterproof nearly every chuck that comes through our shop, new or used. By waterproofing your chuck, we are adding longevity to the overall function.

If you are having trouble with your magnetic chuck, regardless of the brand, we can help. Give our team a message by clicking the link below and filling out a quote request.

Chuck repair quote

Obsidian Manufacturing Industries, Inc. is a Rockford, IL, manufacturing company and is the OEM for Magna-Lock USA workholding, MagnaLift & Power-Grip lift magnets, and Arter Precision Grinding Machines, as well as providing surface grinding services. They are located at 5015 28th Ave. in Rockford, IL, with a phone number of 815-962-8700. Check out more at obsidianmfg.com/brands