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Post by C&C Woodsmith on Oct 6, 2017 22:35:55 GMT -5
Hi all. I'm using my AR8 to do production runs and I'd like the ability to swap out work-holding fixtures. The problem I'm having is getting the fixture back into the proper alignment after it has been removed from the machine.
Apart from drilling holes through the top of the deck and indexing off the holes I'm coming up blank.
Has anybody else figured out how to do this?
Thanks!
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Post by Gary Campbell on Oct 7, 2017 6:57:19 GMT -5
Using the machine to locate and drill a few holes to achieve repetitive, precise alignment is exactly what I would do.
On my last machine I used a grid of drilled and tapped holes into an aluminum table board. I have line-up pins, clamps, locator and corner jigs that use the holes. Line-up pins (shoulder bolts with the heads removed) allow repetitive uses of a given location. I have a "spoilboard file" that cuts oversized holes in the same locations.
Here is a video of the clamps, which are HDPE and use "connector bolts" with a large diameter, low profile head:
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Post by Gary Campbell on Oct 7, 2017 7:27:27 GMT -5
Here is a picture of some of the parts I use. The Lexan blocks are machined to have .5, .75. 1 and 1.5 inches from the hole center to allow locating a blank at a fairly precise (+/- .005") coordinate. You can see the shoulder bolts, 1 uncut, and a few more that have the head cut off and a regular screwdriver slot cut into them and a couple of the narrow clamps. Soon to come will be fixed locators and table wide clamps that will allow the new owner to use 3 table locations as fixtures for his signs.  |
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Post by gene35146 on Oct 7, 2017 10:05:26 GMT -5
You might be thinking about something like this. A year or two ago I looked at the handibot which is a handheld portable CNC and wanted to see how you cut things larger than the small work area and someone had come up with this indexable fixture. I think you could do something similar for the Axiom.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2017 16:22:23 GMT -5
This is a nice setup for cam type side clamps:
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Post by jordandemoss on Nov 4, 2017 14:27:52 GMT -5
I replaced my factory spoilboards with full bed length spoilboards. Then I carved a 1/4” pocket the size of the entire machinable area in to the entire spoilboard bed. Now whenever I make something I just put the material in the bottom left corner and clamp it down. I have not had to set an XY 0 for over a year now.
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