Gentle grippers with their own vacuum cartridges

14 October 2018

The V-Grip range of foam-faced vacuum grippers from Simmatic are said to provide an effective solution to the problem of reliably picking up irregularly shaped and porous objects.

V-Grip grippers need only a compressed air supply to operate and are able to pick up delicate objects with minimal risk of damage.

The grippers feature a lightweight aluminium body frame, which makes them suitable for use on robot arms where the maximum load may be limited. Their gripping surface is faced with EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) foam, which deforms in use to give a seal irrespective of the shape of the object being picked up.

A key benefit of V-Grip grippers is that they have integrated VMECA vacuum cartridges, which means that they require no external vacuum pumps or vacuum pipework. This makes them easy to install and since the vacuum cartridges have no moving parts, almost no maintenance is needed. The grippers also incorporate air filters together with user-adjustable check valves that can be set to give a wide range of air flow settings, so, the lifting force generated by the gripper exactly matches the requirements of the application.

GM-series products in the V-Grip range are 130mm wide and are available in lengths from 220mm to 1,200mm. The company also offers the Mini Grip range. With models ranging in size from 16mm to 60mm wide, in a variety of lengths.