A Zero Point system is a workholding system that focuses on repeatable and accurate location of workpieces, pallets, or fixtures. The name comes from the idea that you can set your WCS off of the clamping receivers and never need to change your 'zero point'. In general Zero Point systems also allow for drastically reducing setup time.

Fixtures and pallets can be machined on the Zero Point receivers, meaning you can set your WCS once and never need to change your 'zero point'. Setup times can be drastically reduced:

• Fixture and setup work can be moved out of the machine, allowing this work to happen while the machine is running other parts.
• Much faster clamp and unclamp times, often reducing or eliminating the need for hand tools.
• Repeatable and accurate clamping, eliminating the need for indicating, tramming, and/or probing. 

Automatic PuckChuck:

• Pneumatic unclamping
• Mechanical clamping via heavy-duty springs
• Slighlty lower clamping force

Mechanical PuckChuck:

• Mechanical unclamping and clamping via a screw
• Higher clamping force
  

Both:

• Same form-factor
• Same pullstuds

In general, the Automatic and Mechanical PuckChucks can be used interchangeably. The primary difference is the clamping force and the unclamping method. With the Automatic receivers, multiple receivers can all be actuated nearly instantly with the flip of a single valve and so these are recommended for use cases with more than one receiver. Mechanical PuckChucks are great for single-receiver use cases because of their higher clamping force and the fact that actuating only a single screw is not significantly more time consuming than an air valve with a single Automatic receiver.