Ai5x | Centro
Clamp it. Load it. Run it.
Ai5x | Centro exists because the reality of automated machining imposes different constraints from traditional manual workholding.
The vise must be compact enough for a robot to move repeatedly with minimum wear on the joints and for a system rack to store it in high numbers within a small footprint. But the cutting force and rigidity required for stable cutting do not become smaller just because the vise must be compact.
Ai5x | Centro solves this paradigm with a unique base and jaw engagement design. The T-shaped body is the visible consequence of that choice. It is not a decorative feature, nor a manufacturing accident.
It retains structure through the vise base to create a bigger contact footprint on the zero-point surface, maximise vise stability when loaded. The vise body and the zero-point interface now behave as one structure. The same logic applies to the jaws and T-nuts as well.
The T-nut engages the jaws through an inclined dovetail interface. As clamping force is applied, that geometry generates a downward force distribution that creates a clamping effect between the jaws, T-nut, and base. This allows the base, jaws, and part to behave as a single rigid body and absorb big cutting forces.
The Ai5x | Centro size is also deliberately bounded. It is not designed around the largest vise that can physically fit inside the system. It is designed around the largest workholding envelope that is the mainstay on the shop floor for repeated automation.
Ai5x | Centro is an automation dedicated workholding system. It is compact where handling requires it, solid where machining needs rigidity and deliberately simple at the operator level.
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Chip control changes when workholding moves automatically between machine, robot and rack.
During unloading, chips trapped inside an open-side vise body can fall toward the zero-point seating surface.
Ai5x | Centro retains chips inside controlled pocket areas until the in-machine cleaning cycle removes them.
Its outer geometry also keeps sticky side chips away from the body-to-zero-point seating edge.
The interface remains protected during the moment when the zero-point surface is most exposed.
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Ai5x | Centro is designed around the usable automation lane.
The objective is not the largest vise that can physically fit inside the system.
The objective is the largest workholding envelope that remains ordinary in repeated automation: compact enough for robot handling, dense rack storage, tool access, rotation clearance, and practical operator interaction.
The standard Ai5x | Centro family therefore stops at 100 mm jaw width.
When a part remains unstable beyond that point, the limiting variable is usually not jaw width alone.
Thin sections, unsupported spans, and unusual geometry require suitable soft jaws, supports, or dedicated fixtures.
Specialised parts are resolved locally.
The standard handled platform does not grow around rare edge cases.
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info to be added soon …
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info to be added soon …
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