Angle heads can give your manufacturing facility or shop the ability to change the angle of your machining tools on the fly in order to get your work done quicker or more efficiently. Adding angle heads will reduce the downtime you normally have to deal with when swapping out one toolhead for another or having to swap or manually change the angle of the materials you are working with. But before you make this addition to your shop, there are some considerations to keep in mind that might help you maximize efficiency and safety for your employees and the overall workplace.

Do You Want to Stick With Manual Labor, or Is This the Right Time to Also Introduce Computers Into the Mix?

If you are doing all of your machining by hand, that's fine, but there might be a way to become much more efficient and improve your yield. A swap to angle heads may also be the right time to swap to computer-assisted manufacturing. A computer can tell the angle head to move to an exact location, position, or angle and then move again whenever needed. Talk to your angle head provider about tool heads designed to work with computer guidance if you are interested.

How Many Different Types of Angles Do You Need, and Will You Still Need to Swap to Different Tools?

Angle heads come in different varieties. Some can pivot 360 degrees while others are more limited. Talk to your angle head provider about the type of work you can do and which tool heads might be best. If you still need to swap to multiple different types of tools, get an angle head that can fit more than one if possible in order to gain additional versatility without increasing cost.

Do Your Employees Know How to Operate Angle Heads Safely, or Do You Need to Provide Additional Training Before Tools Start Pivoting Around?

Your machinists or other workers likely already know how to follow basic safety procedures in your shop with the current tools. But an angle head that can move or adjust on the fly introduces some additional concerns. You'll want to make sure every worker knows how to ensure the tool head is properly locked into place so that the tool head does not change its angle or rotate in an unexpected way while the worker is using the tool or machine.

Contact an angle head provider today to get started.