Another design award for the UNIQ hydraulic chucks

When the precision tool manufacturer and technology partner MAPAL completely revised its hydraulic chucks in 2020, the focus was on making the entire to make the entire product range even more efficient and durable in daily use. in daily use. The new hydraulic chucks were to be given a uniform appearance - the requirement that the design should guarantee the greatest possible stability with optimum use of resources. 

In collaboration with the design agency Ottenwälder und Ottenwälder from Schwäbisch Gmünd, the product managers at MAPAL developed a new design new design concept for the product family. In order to emphasize the uniqueness of the revised chucks chucks, the naming was based on the English word “unique”.
 

The two hydraulic chuck series - UNIQ Mill Chuck and UNIQ DReaM Chuck - combine MAPAL's performance promise of quality and function quality and function, in particular through an optimum interplay of geometric and functional properties. Thanks to a polishing process newly developed for the UNIQ series the high-gloss surface of the chuck is more resistant to dirt and corrosion. more resistant to dirt and corrosion. MAPAL also attached great importance to making the use of the hydraulic chucks process reliability. The blue coloring of the of the actuating screw contributes to this. Specially created signatures also contain handling instructions. “The MAPAL chucks have a significantly unique design language,” says Petra Kurz-Ottenwälder, Managing Director of the design agency Ottenwälder und Ottenwälder.

When the first chucks were available after the development available, the agency submitted the UNIQ hydraulic chucks to the iF Award in 2020 - and to the iF Award - and was honored. This was followed in 2021 by the Good Design Award in 2021 and most recently, at the end of 2024, the sustainability-oriented Green Design Award, which focuses on sustainability. 

“We are proud that we have won several internationally internationally recognized awards with UNIQ,” says Tobias Bayerle. The The development of the UNIQ series proves that you can not only win through practicality, but also that product design can offer customers added value. customers through product design. “If you can impress with performance and design, then you've you've done a lot of things right.”

However, it is even more important for Bayerle to emphasize that the UNIQ chucks have been very well received by existing and new customers from day one. “Since the introduction of the UNIQ series, we have always seen exponential growth in this exponential growth in this area,” he says.  

A hydraulic chuck is suitable for reconditioning. If the hydraulic oil is refilled during servicing, the chuck is as good as new and ready for a second service life. A UNIQ hydraulic chuck can handle up to 15,000 clamping cycles, which is well above the average value of a shrink fit chuck.

Shrink fit chucks are energy guzzlers, consuming up to 12,000 kilowatt hours and 3.6 tons of CO2 per year. This is saved by using a UNIQ hydraulic chuck.

In addition, a hydraulic chuck can be changed much more quickly. Shrink fit chucks take between four and six minutes longer, which adds up over time.
Hydraulic chucks are also much safer to handle. With shrink chucks, almost every operator burns their fingers at least once during the hectic working day. With hydraulic chucks, on the other hand, there is no risk of burns.