Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

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toddalin
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Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by toddalin »

As stated in the title, is there a good book on holding your work on small to medium size mills (for my ShopMaster)?

Gotta be lots more ways than the ang-lock vise and table T-clamps.
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Harold_V
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by Harold_V »

I am not aware of a book that might be helpful. That doesn't mean there isn't one.

A good imagination goes a long ways towards creating holding methods. One might conclude that it's project specific, as what works in one case may not work in another. Also, especially for small parts, sequence of operation is critical, as one should not remove material that is necessary for holding the part until it is no longer required. That isn't always obvious, so a sufficient amount of time should be dedicated to each object to ensure that the operational sequences don't interfere with one another.

Harold
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toddalin
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by toddalin »

It would be nice to see how other people have been doing things, especially with limited resources.
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GlennW
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by GlennW »

I use a lot of fixture plates.

This part was made by screwing the stock to a plate and then holding the plate in the vise.

Machine the part and then just unscrew it!
fitting 2.JPG
Another similar method for small parts is to just hold a block of stock in the vise using parallels so only a small portion of the stoc is held by the vise jaws.

Machine the part or multiples of the same part from the the stock that protrudes above the vise.

Once machined, flip the stock over so the part or parts are being held by the vise jaws and then machine away the remaining stock using a face mill, fly cutter, or end mill which will leave you with individual parts held in the vise.

Can't locate my pic showing that method...

The trick there is to use a piece of heavy paper between the movable jaw and the parts so that they are firmly and equally secured.

Most f the CNC work that I do is done by screwing stock to various fixture plates.
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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BadDog
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by BadDog »

I have a solution that has really worked for me on some odd shaped stuff that just didn't work well for any of the standard options such as vise and strap clamps. I picked up an old school heavy duty 8" Cushman 4 jaw plain back chuck for nearly nothing back when I started this. Realized it was way too much for my lathe at the time, but turned out to be a great vise replacement on the mill. Flat back and precision square/flat surfaces make setup of some otherwise tricky things a breeze. And bolting through the face to t-nuts on the table make it an easy swap as well. Holds from 4 opposing directions, can hold odd shape stuff, provides a flat face for support and orientation, and doesn't cover the top face like strap clamps. Not always the answer, but I don't believe I've ever seen, heard, or read of anyone else using one like that.
Russ
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GlennW
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by GlennW »

I've cone the same with chucks, including a 5C collet chuck.

Image

I machined a base plate so it could be easily clamped to the table.

Image
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by GlennW »

And then there are 5C expanding collets to hold parts by the I.D....

Image
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by GlennW »

How about a cylinder head bolted to a fixture plate and then clamped to the table using 1-2-3 blocks and toe clamps.

The deck surface of the head was the only flat surface to locate from.

Image
Glenn

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warmstrong1955
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by warmstrong1955 »

GlennW wrote:How about a cylinder head bolted to a fixture plate and then clamped to the table using 1-2-3 blocks and toe clamps.
The deck surface of the head was the only flat surface to locate from.
I did some converter charge pump end covers using the same method.
The manufacturer forgot to machine a groove for internal leakage to have a place to go, and the shaft seal kept blowing out.
Seals were readily available.....correct pump parts were not.
Same thing....only one machined surface to locate 'em.

I use 1-2-3 & 2-4-6 blocks a lot.
I also make a lot of my own fixtures & jigs as jobs come up, for lathe, mill, and welding. I've got boxes & shelves of 'em for different projects. Some get used a lot....others....one time, and onto the shelf.

To me, figuring out the how I'm going to build it, and making the tooling and all, is more fun than making the actual part(s).

Bill
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BadDog
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Re: Looking for a Good Book on "Part Holding for Milling"

Post by BadDog »

Nice! I've done the 5C too using collet chuck, collet blocks, H/V indexer, and spindex. I've got a very nice little 5C chuck with a front close collar much like yours, and an adapter to put it V/H on the mill. The 5C indexer is a Hardinge lever action, but I don't have one of the nice little compact lever closers like you show with the ID collets, just haven't stumbled onto a cheap enough example so far.

I've also done a few of those frankenstein setups like you show at the end, all done up with jacks, blocks, parallels, and in some cases shim stock. Sometimes I'm not entire sure if it will hold, and find myself holding my breath while making the cut. One of the scariest was modifying the main extrusion on my bullpup. Not a square or machined surface anywhere (useful), and I needed to hold it for mounting rails as true as possible, and cutting ventilation slots. It's the latter that worried me, I wasn't completely convinced that it would hold due to the open flexy nature of the part, with a slick coating finish (I didn't want to damage), and was scared to clamp any more for fear of distortion. I had even bolted knees to the sides to corral it from horizontal movement while leaving the areas open that needed access. At different times the knees were substituted with blocks and such when they got in the way. It looked like a real junk pile. But it worked.
Russ
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