A look at Piher and their double-acting clamps

The picturesque metropolis of Logroño within the north of Spain is understood for its pretty medieval metropolis middle, the Rioja wine the area is understood to provide, its tremendous 16th-century cathedral, in addition to the type and pleasant individuals who reside alongside the banks of the river Ebro.

Apart from being a beautiful place to spend a vacation, Logroño can be identified for one thing solely totally different. The Rioja area of Spain the place Logroño is positioned was a serious middle of Spain’s industrial revolution within the 19th century. Many industries and producers sprang up within the area, due in no small half to the area’s wealthy iron and coal manufacturing that dates again centuries.

While this area was a hotbed of commercial innovation within the 19th and 20th centuries, it has retained its conventional roots, which will be seen within the enterprise fashions nonetheless widespread within the area—small, family-run companies working with native suppliers and native prospects to provide prime quality and specialised gadgets. These companies proceed to help the native economic system and make use of native staff to provide their items. This is especially vital for woodworkers as a result of Logroño is house to Piher, a small clamp-making agency that has been making a variety of top-quality clamps out of a small manufacturing unit because the late 1950s.

Piher Clamps was began in 1957 by two brothers, Ricardo and Juan Piqueres. The identify Piher is a portmanteau of Piqueres and hermanos (brothers). The present proprietor is Jose Piqueres, son of Juan. Jose carries on his father’s and uncle’s custom of constructing high-quality clamps and caring for his small, devoted firm.  

Jose and his group make use of a small however devoted corps of staff with about 50 individuals engaged on the manufacturing unit ground to provide about 1,000 clamps per day. They nonetheless function out of the manufacturing unit constructed by the unique hermanos, with a number of expansions over time, after all, and proceed to work with the native suppliers and distributors. 

Piher began making machine instruments and shortly expanded into clamps. The transfer to clamp manufacturing was solely pure after the brothers invented and patented a double-acting piston screw system nonetheless seen in most Piher clamps at the moment.  Soon after the success of the brand new line of double-acting piston clamps Piher turned its consideration nearly completely to clamp manufacturing, the place the agency stays at the moment.

The double-acting piston system was a superb improvement in clamping that makes use of an internally threaded piston, a double-threaded screw, and the threads you see contained in the physique of the clamp. This system can enhance clamping stress whereas permitting extra management over the stress.  The brilliance of this method lies in two areas. First, the double screw implies that the piston is pushed into the work in a easy, linear movement, eradicating the tendency to twist like a plain screw clamp with a regular swivel pad. (see the video at the underside of this publish) The benefit is that as you apply clamp stress, the transferring jaw is far much less more likely to stroll off the work or transfer the piece being clamped. 

The second main benefit of this method is that the double-threaded screw advances the piston twice as a lot with every flip of the deal with as a plain single-thread system. This is a large benefit when working with giant items and numerous clamps, as you possibly can receive the proper clamping drive sooner and extra precisely. 

I used to be fortunate sufficient to go to Logrono within the winter of 2019, and spent a while attending to know not solely Piher’s clamps, but in addition its individuals. They are gracious and welcoming, with a humble however deserved pleasure in what they’ve constructed. Having been fortunate sufficient to go to the manufacturing unit and spend time with the Piher group, it’s abundantly clear the place the standard of their merchandise comes from. It is simple to see that Piher is wholly devoted to the individuals out on the manufacturing unit ground, who construct the clamps and preserve the enterprise operating. It is simply pure that high quality and success comply with when a small enterprise places its individuals first. 

We typically speak about supporting the craftsmanship and high quality of conventional business, however ithey are sometimes forsaken for revenue, market share, and the underside line. I’m happy to know that on this sunny, charming, and welcoming nook of Spain, the custom of high quality and craftsmanship lives on.