I have only used those clamps once and they worked ok. I need to try them again. Id love so see the CAD for those rails. Great idea with the modularidy
I’ve really been liking Shawn’s videos… he’s very knowledgeable and explains everything in a way that I can understand. I would love to see a video on his modular plate for his table, and the sub plates he uses for his vises. Keep up the good work 👍
With my chip breaker endmills I’m actually not a fan of the pockets. They load up worse in my application. Mainly because I have to have them wider than the clamp so I can get the back radius on the floor machined. The sides pack in. If I make a relief I he chips pack in those. I found out it was easier to blow the chips sideways thru the rail once they were loose vs the air blowing into the pocket back into my face. Definitely agree with what you’re saying on weakening the backer. I made sure I made them thick since I ran the channel down. I should have mentioned that in the video.
This is not a universal solution . But fantastic for bigger orders. I had a colleauge who really wanted to implement the mitee-bite clamps (pitbull and such). At that point i already gave up to convince management and boss and owner to invest 1000€ and let's se how it goes . Well this other guy was obviously also unable to convince them . We abandoned the idea forever.... I switched 3 places since than (some 5 years ago) . I still never ever seen any kind of setup with miniclamps . The only upgrade that i witnessed is the hard serrated jaws with 2.5mm depth . That's a nice upgrade from what i had before....... Plus there is another thing , shop made collet chucks operated by a central big bolt , that expands to a given I.D. . That was a nice surprise , i didn't believe that it would hold in rough turning , but it does :D .
For sure. I only use these with bigger orders that will give me long runtime. Otherwise they are not worth setting up in which I default to a double station vice.
do you surface grind the flat faces so everythings as flat as parallel as possible relative to itself or is machined enough? or does it even matter ? sorry trying to learn.
Thats actually a good question. Since these are for raw stock it isn’t needed for them to be super flat. They tend to get beat up so I stone them now and again. But for the most part your stock isn’t flat to begin with and you would never really use these for a 2nd operation with a finished surface on the bottom. But even then machining them is flat enough if that were the case. That being said I blank these up so I can bolt to the table. After they are bolted to the table I machine the top deck, channel and holes so they are as parallel to the table as possible. Hope that helps!
It shouldn't matter, if the milled face on the bottom is bolted down to the table and then the top is machined, then the face that holds the parts should be both parallel to the table and also perpendicular to the head of the machine.
Great solution! In the clamping rails, maybe the locating pins aren't required. You could put slots rather than holes for the bolts and adjust the rail to fit that batch of stock? Do you run anything other than ali? I've made lots of pitbull fixtures and the rad on hot rolled steel and stainless make them hard to use. Also they're very pricey in the uk. I've made a lot of my own cos they're a great concept design
That’s exactly what I have to do. I have to pull the pins and push them up to the smaller sizes stock. It’s time consuming for sure. I have done a bunch of stainless and that raw stock isn’t flat awful. Big rads and the side walls have a convex curve on them. Totally get where you’re coming from on steel. Kinda why I wanted to mention it could be an issue if you clamp down at the bottom.
I like your setup... question...in Mastercam, you obviously have all your fixtures modeled, you have your wcs datum in the middle modeled, I get all that, but when you merge (import) your solid model for the part, into that fixture model with all the layers, are you just manually translating the solid into the first position?
That’s exactly what I’m doing. I have moved the WCS plenty of times in my career, but in the end I prefer to move my model and material stock into position. I have found it’s much easier to move the model vs moving all my imported templates around the model. So basically I bring model in, square it up, throw a material around it and then grab the corner of material and translate against stop. 👍
Boys can anybody give me some advice i just bought a older cnc machine and my friend will make it so i can put programs into it from my pc but i need tools and vices and its hard to find them here in europe is there any advice you can give me about how to get cheaper tools,vices and work for my cnc machine ! :)
When my sister was little she used to go to the shop and say all we did all day was press the green button 😂
Pretty much! Haha
I have only used those clamps once and they worked ok. I need to try them again. Id love so see the CAD for those rails. Great idea with the modularidy
Been wanting to ask you about these for a while. Great video
Hoping I can refer this video to anyone who asks me on Insta. Lol
I’ve really been liking Shawn’s videos… he’s very knowledgeable and explains everything in a way that I can understand. I would love to see a video on his modular plate for his table, and the sub plates he uses for his vises. Keep up the good work 👍
Look through his videos, he already did one for those items
@ oh shit, I’ll take a look, thanks 🙏
Awesome video, I definitely learnt something, thank you Shawn!
🤜🤛
Great video! Got some good ideas out of this...thanks!
🤜🤛
Good information and good video!
Thanks Donnie! I love your videos too for the same reason! You always have great stuff to share. 🤜🤛
Thank you for this kind of videos
Use Pockets for those clamps, a slot going the whole length weakens it and also catches chips. Tight pockets for each clamp is far better.
With my chip breaker endmills I’m actually not a fan of the pockets. They load up worse in my application. Mainly because I have to have them wider than the clamp so I can get the back radius on the floor machined. The sides pack in. If I make a relief I he chips pack in those. I found out it was easier to blow the chips sideways thru the rail once they were loose vs the air blowing into the pocket back into my face. Definitely agree with what you’re saying on weakening the backer. I made sure I made them thick since I ran the channel down. I should have mentioned that in the video.
This is not a universal solution . But fantastic for bigger orders. I had a colleauge who really wanted to implement the mitee-bite clamps (pitbull and such). At that point i already gave up to convince management and boss and owner to invest 1000€ and let's se how it goes .
Well this other guy was obviously also unable to convince them . We abandoned the idea forever.... I switched 3 places since than (some 5 years ago) . I still never ever seen any kind of setup with miniclamps .
The only upgrade that i witnessed is the hard serrated jaws with 2.5mm depth . That's a nice upgrade from what i had before.......
Plus there is another thing , shop made collet chucks operated by a central big bolt , that expands to a given I.D. . That was a nice surprise , i didn't believe that it would hold in rough turning , but it does :D .
For sure. I only use these with bigger orders that will give me long runtime. Otherwise they are not worth setting up in which I default to a double station vice.
do you surface grind the flat faces so everythings as flat as parallel as possible relative to itself or is machined enough? or does it even matter ? sorry trying to learn.
Thats actually a good question. Since these are for raw stock it isn’t needed for them to be super flat. They tend to get beat up so I stone them now and again. But for the most part your stock isn’t flat to begin with and you would never really use these for a 2nd operation with a finished surface on the bottom. But even then machining them is flat enough if that were the case.
That being said I blank these up so I can bolt to the table. After they are bolted to the table I machine the top deck, channel and holes so they are as parallel to the table as possible. Hope that helps!
It shouldn't matter, if the milled face on the bottom is bolted down to the table and then the top is machined, then the face that holds the parts should be both parallel to the table and also perpendicular to the head of the machine.
Great video. Always been curious on what electaly that setup is that you've been clamping with.
Great solution! In the clamping rails, maybe the locating pins aren't required. You could put slots rather than holes for the bolts and adjust the rail to fit that batch of stock?
Do you run anything other than ali? I've made lots of pitbull fixtures and the rad on hot rolled steel and stainless make them hard to use. Also they're very pricey in the uk. I've made a lot of my own cos they're a great concept design
That’s exactly what I have to do. I have to pull the pins and push them up to the smaller sizes stock. It’s time consuming for sure.
I have done a bunch of stainless and that raw stock isn’t flat awful. Big rads and the side walls have a convex curve on them. Totally get where you’re coming from on steel. Kinda why I wanted to mention it could be an issue if you clamp down at the bottom.
I like your setup... question...in Mastercam, you obviously have all your fixtures modeled, you have your wcs datum in the middle modeled, I get all that, but when you merge (import) your solid model for the part, into that fixture model with all the layers, are you just manually translating the solid into the first position?
That’s exactly what I’m doing. I have moved the WCS plenty of times in my career, but in the end I prefer to move my model and material stock into position. I have found it’s much easier to move the model vs moving all my imported templates around the model. So basically I bring model in, square it up, throw a material around it and then grab the corner of material and translate against stop. 👍
@SBSOLOCO nice, that makes sense ..seems like a good workflow for using those bars!
Which material you used for making these rails please.
These are made from 6061 aluminum
I think my words were coming out of my mouth faster than I could think. If anything doesn’t make sense, happy to clarify. 😂
Boys can anybody give me some advice i just bought a older cnc machine and my friend will make it so i can put programs into it from my pc but i need tools and vices and its hard to find them here in europe is there any advice you can give me about how to get cheaper tools,vices and work for my cnc machine ! :)