Reduce Setup Times by 92%. Eliminate Bolts & Clamps in Workholding.

[miljnor]

don't want to steal your steam but I saw this concept at a friend of mines shop when I was like 14. granted it wasn't as smooth and finished looking and just making a few took forever I am sure but the idea isn't new. I have used bolts the same way.. y just have to drill a hole from the backside of the fixture and make a counter sunk hole. Of coarse you have to make a broach that will broach the end of a bolt. but if you have a shop press no problem!

[miljnor]

oh did I forget to add:

it either time or money.... you goto spend one of them!

[Halfnutz]

Maybee this is off subject, maybee its just a stupid question, but where do you get those driilled and tapped steel plates? I would like to find a .25" thick 2' X 4' steel plate with 1/4-20 or 10-20 holes tapped every 2-4 inches. I see these all the time in pictures as drops for other equipement, but I can never find the stuff for sale. What exactly do they call it, how much do they cost, and where do you buy it? Thanks .

[Twistr]

Hi Chris J-
With regard to your questions:
Yes, the holes are generic. Our fasteners come in 2 housing sizes, 1" diameter and 1 1/4" diameter. In the 1" diameter we have 5/16", 3/8" & 1/2" studs. So, not only are the fasteners interchangeable, they can be changed to different sizes by screwing one out an putting another in. In the 1 1/4" housing size we have 1/2" & 5/8". Regarding the expense of populating every hole: you can always leave the hole blank or fill it with a low cost aluminum plug (which we sell). Alot of people make the fixture, then populate as they go. Maybe 30 fasteners a month or something like that until they fully populate the table. After all, who wants to be moving them around all the time - it kind of defeats the purpose of LEAN.

[Twistr]

Hi Miljnor-
Thanks for your comments. And you are absolutely right! This concept has been used in workholding for at least 20 years. Many machinists have used this idea with success in one form or another for quite some time. Our improvement comes by way of 2 advancements: 1st- it's off the shelf. Your gizmo wasn't meant to be a a mass market idea. Every machinist had to make his own and it was a loose assembly. We actually sell something along that line in our AA06 product line. 2nd-they load from the front. That is a significant improvement since any damage to them, or wear, or reason for maintenance required removing the plate to get to them. That could seriously mess up your production or force you to make a lot of dups of the plates.

[JavaDog]

Originally Posted by Twistr 30 fasteners a month or something like that until they fully populate the table.

Heh, 30 of these would be half the cost of my machine!

While these are cool, it is quite obvious that I (and other "small frys" like me) are not the intended market...

[Twistr]

Javadog- You would probably be astounded by how many "small frys" like yourself use these things! I don't know how small a fry you are, but if you've been doing this awhile there's alot of cost in even the smallest operations. Start adding up the cost of all the dedicated fixtures and special tooling you've made/bought along the way and you will come to a bigger number than you think!

[Riveted]

SO, What would entry level cost be to start using this stuff?

[Twistr]

Hi Riveted-
A simple and low-cost quick change fixture can be had for less than $100 in hardware. If you were to purchase 4 of our lowest cost fasteners, buy the liners and pins... you could have a quick change fixture in no time. (Just think of the cost savings in setup time!) http://www.invert-a-bolt.com/shop_zipfixture.shtml gives some idea of it, though with pricier fasteners. Jergens sells Ball Lock for 5 times that cost! Who says we don't cater to the "small frys?" In fact, we enable them.

[Russell the Red]

I have seen the Invert-A-Bolts in use in some shops, but do they work best in soft metals or hard metals? How about in vertical applications?

[Twistr]

Sorry I didn't get back with you on this sooner... To answer your questions: the fasteners work great in either hard or soft metals! We have seen customers go to modular workholding to REDUCE their stock sizes, especially in hard metals like titanium, to lower their cost. As far as vertical applications: for a long time we recommended the modular fixtures for only horizontal machines. But we recently introduced a flush mounted cap on most of our fasteners that accomodates modular fixturing for verticals. We've got some customers that are using the modular fixtures in vertical applications and having great success.

[t.park]

We've got (2) bolster plates for our SNK high speed 5 axis profiler.

Each bolster plate has 640 1/2-13 invert-a-bolts on 4" centers.

We load parts on one bolster pate off-line while the other one is on the machine.

On one job we hold an alluminum plate 6" x 58" x 105"

The invert-a-bolts work great for us.