Fixtures for Tube Welding Modular fixturing tables can increase your speed, productivity, and storage For most people familiar with modular fixturing tables, the main benefit they are aware of is the ability to quickly place a clamp anywhere on the table. However, the real benefits go much deeper than that. Modular fixtures reduce cost and lead time during fixture design, create labor savings during production, and save storage space when not in use. Modular fixtures can adapt to a wide variety of jobs while also making every result repeatable. They are an adaptable system that solve many work-holding problems for temporary jobs, prototyping, one-off items, and short production runs that are only occasionally performed. Most fabrication shops have jobs that require temporary clamping or fixturing every day, whether for a complex, three-dimensional workpiece or a simple length of material that requires grinding. Overview of Modular Fixturing Systems Modular fixturing is composed of reusable, off-the-shelf components so that the user does not have to fabricate individual fixture elements for every new job. A good modular system starts with a flat steel surface onto which is machined a grid pattern of regularly spaced system holes. System holes have a uniform thickness and diameter, often with chamfering, to better accept specially designed bolts. Individual modular components in various shapes and sizes, such as bars and right angles, are also machined with hole patterns that match the grid pattern of the table. The modular components enable countless configurations through the ability to stack and adjust. The machined faces on modular components ensure the size and spacing of the modular components are consistent with each other and the parts in a CAD design have the same critical dimensions in real life. Most modular systems are held together using special bolts that contain a collar on one end and ball bearings that can expand to lock components to the table or to each other. The bolts are designed to be tightened by manipulating only one end of the bolt, thus eliminating the inconvenience of reaching under a large table to fasten parts together with a traditional bolt and nut fastener — Fig. 1. Lastly, there are a variety of vertical and horizontal acting clamps that can interface not only with the system holes on the table for quick and versatile clamping, but can also be used with the holes on the modular fixtures. Advantages of Modular Fixturing Faster, More Accurate, More Competitive Quotes Modular fixturing makes the quotation process for smaller operations competitive by shrinking the 78 WELDING JOURNAL / JUNE 2016 BY PAM FARLEY Fig. 1 — Drawing of a quick-clamping bolt used with modular fixtures. (Photo by Siegmund GmbH.) All images courtesy of Strong Hand Tools®.
Welding Journal | June 2016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above