Automated Clamping Fixture

This design/build project enabled a contract manufacturer to improve their production method for machining of custom aluminum extrusions by automating the setup and clamping of very long long parts.

Changes were made to the rail clamping method that considered the machining and setup effort, which resulted in fewer setups and shorter machining cycle times while maintaining on-spec dimensional control.

 

Challenge

On this project, our greatest challenge was to eliminate the ‘hand-made’ aspect of machining an irregular extrusion while maintaining the tight dimensional control required of the finished product. 

Solution

•  created a 3-D CAD model of the HAAS VS-3 machine tool bed and long extruded profile using SolidWorks® software
•  reviewed the existing manual method of clamping and gauging the setup
•  developed and approach for an automatic clamping fixture
•  presented the approach and interacted with the clients while CAD modeling the design
•  developed a ‘bottom-up’ cost model for implementation
•  delivered the design and costing model to the clients

Services/Skills

•  3-D CAD modeling
•  Mechanical Design

Results

The contract manufacturer not only reduced the individual part setup time by over 83%, but they also
•  improved the process repeatability and finished part quality/precision
•  reduced labor input while increasing throughput
•  demonstrated to their client the ability to engineer effective production solutions