Making a Jig for repetitive pieces

[Burn]

Hey Guys,

I am going to be making PC waterblocks for watercooling, and I think I want to make a jig to hold the pieces in place.

1. What material should I make the jig out of?
2. How should I hold the jig down, with holes and bolts I'm guessing?
3. How much space should be in between the jig and piece? I am guessing not too much.
4. How would I get the pieces out?

Thanks
Burn

[lakeside]

with out knowing what the part looks like or what type of cutting(profile thur hole), and if you are going to do any other operation with this jig it hard to make any useful sudjestion

[Burn]

Okay, it's going to be holding a piece to be milled into a heatsink of sorts, like this one: It's the top-right piece.

[lakeside]

make a set of softjaws for your vise mill

[tobyaxis]

If you don't want to make softjaws, you could always make a block with the appropriate clamps and such with a key on the bottom. Don't forget bolt holes to lock it to the table.

BTW: Nice parts!!!!

[Burn]

Well, those are not mine. They were used as an example....Mine will look much better

Softjaws, what are those? Google is my friend.

[widgitmaster]

Ok, what you have not told us is the quantity, the state of the raw parts, and the type of machine doing the work! Are these parts in squared up blocks already? Or are you machining everything from scratch?

MY immediate suggestion ( if done on a CNC mill) would be to use two 6" vises with soft jaws!
1st vise does the top half of one part, then flip the part into the other vise and do the bottom half!

That way every cycle stop is one completed part!

This method is acceptable for all three parts!

Now, if your quantity is in the thousands, I would suggest an indexing 4th axis, with a fixture designed to hold 5-10 parts per side of a square fixture supported with a tail center. Then I would do one side and flip the parts to the other side of the fixture and finish them! This would produce 5-10 parts per cycle start, but increase loading time, and cycle time!

Your choice!
Eric

[widgitmaster]

Softjaws are exactly that, vise jaws that are soft and machinable!

[Burn]

Okay, the raw material will be 4 by 2.5".
I will have a 4th axis rotary table set up.
CNC Taig Mill w/ IMservice servoes
Milling a pocket and drilling holes out, possibly doing full 4-axis work if need be.

[widgitmaster]

because your mill so small, you should stick to two small vises!

[Burn]

I was thinking that too, until I realized I had to contour the outside of the piece!

[widgitmaster]

That's why you need soft jaws!

After you contour the outside of the part, simply write a program to do a reverse contour in the soft jaws, creating a perfect nest for the part to clamp in! Then you can machine the opposite side to finish the part in full!

This is a common procedure in most progressive shops!
Just make a pair of jaws from aluminum, drill the mounting holes. And place a spacer between them and close the vise. Then run your little program!

Next time you do the job, the jaws are ready for quick setup!

Eric