Tips for product selection
Generic-purpose or dedicated Fixture?
Generic-purpose components vs. dedicated fixturing
In most cases machining a workpiece requires more than one fixture.
The fixture for a specific workpiece and a specific machining operation can be built by using modules for generic-purpose fixturing or dedicated fixturing.
A dedicated fixture is workpiece-specific, whereas a system built of generic-purpose components can be set up for a variety of workpieces.
Fixture built from generic-purpose fixturing components
- Modular system
- Off-the shelve availability of modules
- Possible modifications can be limited to individual modules
- Setup change can be done moving the stop modules
Dedicated fixture
- Production cost is the lowest of all
- High design cost
- Longer delivery time
- Setup change must be done by changing the fixture
In addition to these extremes, many fixturing challenges can be solved using an innovative mix of dedicated and generic-purpose components