3D Printed Workpiece Holding

[[Da...]]

I'm curious to see if anyone utilizes 3D printing for making custom workpiece holding jigs and fixtures. What was your experience with the process? Is it stable/reliable? What are the pros and cons? Any advice or feedback from your experiences?

[[An...]]

we use many fixtures from 3D printer, mainly we print fixtures which are used as vacuum fixation.
We are very satisfied with the accuracy and flexibility and the part change works quickly.
We make plastic products, so clamping in a vice or three-jaw chuck is not always advisable.

[[No...]]

I already made a few 3D printed fixtures from PLA with an Ultimaker. We measure only plastic parts, so sturdiness of the fixture or the weight and handling of the part is not an issue. For large heavy parts I would recommend an SLS printer

I also tried to integrate small toggle clamps directly into the fixture model and screwed them on with expanding sleeves. They worked quite well at first, but later I found that the repeated opening and closing of the clamps and the pressure tends to weaken the layer bonding, so after some time cracks appeared near the clamp and it was about to break off. In more recent designs I tried to overcome this by printing the layers parallel to the pressure force.

Pros:

• A lot cheaper than milled fixtures
• Faster to make
• More flexible designs possible
• Changes are easier to apply, and at low cost
• Damaged fixtures are easy to replace

Cons:

• Complex designs may need more planning
• Sturdiness
• Tougher materials like PA are difficult to print

[[Se...]]

I can confirm what Norbert says:
We also regularly use 3D-printed fixtures.
Mainly in the prototyping phase. This enables us to test our concept and easily improve it if necessary.
It's true that this technology makes it possible to produce parts of acceptable quality quickly and cheaply.
As we produce metal parts, and in the interests of sustainability, we manufacture our fixing systems in hard metal once we start mass production.

[[Ro...]]

My previous job had a very nice 30k 3d printer. I was pretty much the only one that did anything with it, i taught myself how to use solidworks via Youtube tutorials and i loaded my whole table with printed "squaring Corners" and a hold down for the qual sphere and hundreds of fixtures for parts. we had totes full of fixtures under the CMM computers.
Some of the cad models i printed out ended up being turned over to the die shop for manufacturing into steel fixtures, but the designs were proven on the 3d printer.

If you have Solidworks look up a tutorial for "Subtraction" to make a negative cavity for complex parts.

Additionally, a hole printed to .190" can be tapped to 1/4-20 and will accept a Raycp Tension Spring clamp very well.

If you need a more durable thread, measure a nut across points and make a counterbore on the back side about .015" smaller, and drive the nut into your 3d print. now you have a steel on steel connection.

[[Da...]]

Wow, it's amazing to see all the different solutions everyone comes up with. I haven't made anything for work holding yet; just a probe holder for a hall sensor we're using on the CMM in order to do magnetic mappings of electromagnets. I always wondered about work holding and fixturing but wasn't sure if 3d printing had some sort of major disadvantage I didn't know about. This gives me a bunch of ideas, thanks everyone for sharing!

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