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How 3D Printing Jigs and Fixtures Transforms Manufacturing Part II – All About Fixtures

Fixtures are essential for custom manufacturers. Fixtures hold the workpiece in place so it does not move during a step in manufacturing. Some shapes are easy to hold such as a rectangular block. For example, the part can be simply held in a vice. For shapes with various curves and angles, it can be difficult to hold them sturdy using standard tools. Fixtures solve this problem by clamping onto parts while matching the part’s geometry like a glove.

Jig or Fixture?

Fixtures may sometimes be called jigs, but they are not the same thing. Jigs guide the motion of tools and they are usually used in manual operations such as drilling holes. Fixtures are very sturdy and will accurately hold the workpiece at the correct angle, but fixtures do not guide tools. Fixtures are more often used with automated manufacturing methods. For more information on Jigs, check out our article about jigs.

All about Fixtures

Fixtures make inserting and removing parts much easier. They are typically designed in an intuitive way that reduces the risk of human error. Fixtures can be re-used for large production runs, or created specifically for a small number of custom parts.

Fixtures must be mounted to a sturdy surface before they can be used effectively. Some fixtures are designed to fit onto a standard bench vice, others attach to standard mounting boards like T-slot tables or hole grids. Fixtures are rigidly bolted or mounted onto shop equipment.

Traditionally, custom fixtures are made manually. The design is planned out, then work material is cut, milled, and drilled into shape. This process requires costly materials, expensive equipment, skilled machinists, and a considerable amount of labor. It may also require purchasing new tooling for unique shapes.

Benefits of 3D Printed Fixtures

3D printing is a viable alternative when it comes to creating custom fixtures. It is more cost-effective to 3D print a custom fixture than it is to machine one in-house. With 3D printing, a fixture only needs to be designed using CAD software and sent out to a 3D printing service such as www.shapeways.com After a few days, it’ll get printed, shipped and delivered, ready to use.

3D printed fixtures are made from strong and lightweight plastics such as nylon. Nylon is tough and durable. Fixtures made from nylon will last for many production cycles. As a plastic, it is not as dense as metal, so large fixtures will be lightweight in comparison. Nylon is softer than most rigid materials, and this is good because the fixture will not scratch or damage the part’s surface. The softer material aids in providing a more uniform clamping pressure. Under high clamping loads, the nylon can deform to the shape of the part, saving both from being damaged.

Here are a few examples of innovative fixtures that have been designed specifically for 3D printing.

1”x1” Board Fixture

This fixture is mounted onto a 1”x1” mounting grid board or mounting table. It can be used to hold your working piece in place to either be cut, drilled or assembled. The working piece is clamped by the fixture as screws are tightened, holding it securely. This fixture can also be used as a cylinder holder for cutting pipes and tubes.

Material: Multi Jet Fusion Plastic – Gray PA12 (nylon 12)

Bench Vice Jaw Adapter Fixture

This fixture is an accessory for a bench vice that when attached, can hold a wide arrangement of objects. This is done by inserting magnets (not included) into the provided spots on the back of the fixture and then placing the fixture onto the jaws of a bench vice.

Material: SLS – PA11 (nylon 11)

Door Lock Installation Fixture

This is a fixture used to assist in the installation of a doorknob or lever. It provides accurate alignment between the working parts of a doorknob or lever. This is done by finding the centerline of your door edge, aligning the two smaller holes with the centerline and securing the fixture to the door with screws temporarily at those points. Once that is done, you can now use the recommended hole saw and the fixture as a guide to drill the remaining holes out where you would be left with perfectly aligned holes to install a doorknob or lever.

Material: Versatile Plastic – White Processed

Cut Down Your Production Costs

If you would like to learn more about how 3D printing can help your business save money and reduce manufacturing costs, get in contact with Shapeways using our Sign up form.

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3D Printing News Briefs: April 21, 2019

We’re beginning with an aerospace 3D printing story in 3D Printing News Briefs today, then moving on to news about some upcoming industry events and finishing with a little business. Launcher tested its 3D printed rocket engine on an important date in history. DuPont will be introducing new semi-crystalline 3D printing products at RAPID + TCT, and Nanofabrica has offered to 3D print micro parts at no cost for interested companies attending the annual euspen conference. Ira Green Inc. used Rize technology to transform its production process, GOM is now part of the Zeiss Group, and the Ivaldi Group received its ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Launcher Tests 3D Printed Rocket Engine

New York startup Launcher, which uses EOS technology to create 3D printed components for metal rocket engines, has completed many firing tests with these parts over the last year and a half. Recently, on the anniversary of the date the first human left Earth to go into space, the startup announced the results of the latest test.

Launcher’s founder and CEO Max Haot posted on his LinkedIn account that the E-1 copper bi-metal rocket engine, which was 3D printed on the EOS M290, broke the startup’s combustion pressure record at 625 psi, mr 2.5. It will be interesting to see how the engine performs on its next test.

DuPont to Introduce New Semi-Crystalline Materials

At next month’s RAPID + TCT in Detroit, DuPont Transportation & Advanced Polymers (T&AP), a DowDuPont Specialty Products Division business, will be launching an expansion to its 3D printing portfolio: advanced, high-performance semi-crystalline materials, which will give customers more manufacturing agility and open new opportunities to lower costs while increasing production.

Jennifer L. Thompson, Ph.D., R&D programs manager for DuPont T&AP, will be presenting a technical paper about the materials during the event as part of the Material Development and Characterization session. During her presentation at 10:15 am on May 23rd, Thompson will discuss alternative 3D printing methods, like pellet extrusion modeling, in addition to highlighting new engineering materials and talking about tailored material testing programs. Thompson and other DuPont employees will be at DuPont T&AP’s booth #552 at RAPID to answer questions about the company’s 3D printing materials.

Nanofabrica Offers Free 3D Printing Services for euspen Attendees

Last month, Israeli 3D printing startup Nanofabrica announced the commercial launch of its micro resolution 3D printing platform. In order to show off the system’s abilities to potential customers, Nanofabrica has made an enticing offer to attendees at next month’s euspen conference and exhibition in Spain: the startup will print parts for interested companies at no charge. Then, the parts printed on the new micro AM platform will be presented to them at the event, which focuses on the latest technological developments that are growing innovation at the micron and sub-micron levels.

“It’s quite simple really. We believe that the best way to prove what our AM system can do, how high the resolution and accuracy of the parts we make are, is to manufacture parts for attendees,” Jon Donner, the CEO of Nanofabrica explained. “Registered attendees are welcome to send us their files, and we will examine and print them. That is how confident we are that you will be amazed by the capabilities of our system, and this we feel will mean that we can forge meaningful relationships with manufacturers that will endure into the future.”

Rize 3D Printing Transformed Company’s Production Process

Rhode Island-based IRA Green Inc. (IGI), a full-service manufacturer and distributor of unique uniform items earned and worn by military personnel around the world, recently turned to RIZE and its 3D printing capabilities in order to manufacture small fixtures for its tool shop. The company’s products are in high demand, but lead times were growing longer due to bottlenecks and 8 hours of work for each $300 fixture. Precision is also important for these parts, which is why IGI decided to turn to the RIZE ONE hybrid 3D printer. According to a new case study, IGI’s design team uses the printer every day to manufacture accurate fixtures in just 50 minutes for $2.00 a part. Using the RIZE ONE, which has the unique capability of adding ink markings to parts for verification, the company has been able to standardize its nails and molds, which helped lead to an ROI in less than five months.

IGI’s Manufacturing Manager, Bill Yehle said, “Implementing RIZE 3D printing as part of a strategic process shift has completely transformed our production process.

“We have realized an 80% time savings in setup and changeover alone using RIZE and virtually eliminated errors.”

ZEISS Group Acquires GOM

In an effort to expand its industrial metrology and quality assurance portfolio, the ZEISS Group, a technology enterprise operating in the optics and optoelectronics fields, has acquired GOM, which provides hardware and software for automated 3D coordinate measuring technology. By combining GOM’s optical 3D measuring technology with its own products, ZEISS could expand market access, and create new opportunities, for its Industrial Quality & Research segment. Once the transaction is complete, which should happen soon, GOM will become part of this ZEISS segment, while the legal form of its companies in Germany and elsewhere will stay the same. The financial details of the transaction will not be discussed publicly.

“Our growth strategy expressly mentions the targeted acquisition of highly innovative solutions, technologies and companies, which can reach their full potential as part of the ZEISS Group. By acquiring GOM and thereby expanding our solutions portfolio, we are bolstering the leading position of our Industrial Quality & Research segment and will be able to offer even better solutions for our customers. This is entirely in keeping with our corporate strategy, which is focused on our customers’ success,” said Dr. Michael Kaschke, President & CEO of ZEISS.

Ivaldi Group Awarded ISO 9001:2015 Certification

California startup Ivaldi Group, which uses 3D printing and metal fabrication solutions to provide in-port parts on-demand services for the maritime, mining, offshore, and construction industries has become ISO 9001:2015 certified in less than ten months. This standard, which is certifies quality managements systems that focus on customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, and active involvement of employees and management in a process-based approach, is the first step in the certification process that’s required to certify specific products. This proves Ivaldi’s commitment to constantly improving itself.

“Certifying our quality management system has helped us to structure our processes to create a solid foundation. This will allow us to improve efficiency, productivity, and traceability,” said Anna D’Alessio, Quality Management Specialist of Ivaldi Group. “Global quality management systems are important to align processes and optimize operations across facilities. This certification proves our commitment to meet requirements of stakeholders affected by our work.”

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Researchers 3D Print Clamping Systems to Cut Down on Slippage During Soft Tissue Testing

When I think about clamps, if I do at all, it’s in terms of holding wood steady in a scene shop while making sets for a play, or keeping two large objects that have been glued together tight while the glue dries. But there are many different purposes and applications for clamps, including in the medical field, demonstrated by the 3D printed cardioplegia clamps designed for King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust two years ago.

Recently, a collaborative group of researchers from the University of Otago and the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and the University of Leipzig in Germany published a paper, titled “Utilization of 3D printing technology to facilitate and standardize soft tissue testing,” in the Scientific Reports journal that detailed their work in creating 3D printed clamps and fixtures that can help mount soft tissues for testing purposes.

The abstract reads, “This report will describe our experience using 3D printed clamps to mount soft tissues from different anatomical regions. The feasibility and potential limitations of the technology will be discussed. Tissues were sourced in a fresh condition, including human skin, ligaments and tendons. Standardized clamps and fixtures were 3D printed and used to mount specimens. In quasi-static tensile tests combined with digital image correlation and fatigue trials we characterized the applicability of the clamping technique. Scanning electron microscopy was utilized to evaluate the specimens to assess the integrity of the extracellular matrix following the mechanical tests. 3D printed clamps showed no signs of clamping-related failure during the quasi-static tests, and intact extracellular matrix was found in the clamping area, at the transition clamping area and the central area from where the strain data was obtained. In the fatigue tests, material slippage was low, allowing for cyclic tests beyond 10⁵ cycles. Comparison to other clamping techniques yields that 3D printed clamps ease and expedite specimen handling, are highly adaptable to specimen geometries and ideal for high-standardization and high-throughput experiments in soft tissue biomechanics.

Soft tissues have several special characteristics, such as being diverse, directionally dependent (anistropic), and viscoelastic (exhibiting both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation). The power of these qualities is increased by things like post-mortem delay, water content alterations, and traumatic pathology, all of which can cause issues when it comes to standardized mechanical tests of the tissue under strain.

Fixtures and clamps have been used to help with issues like material slippage, but are limited when working with soft tissue due to reasons like, as the paper lists, “avulsion at the clamping site or the risk of temperature-induced changes in the mechanical behavior.”

Over the last few years, the team developed a technique called partial plastination that uses ceramic-reinforced polyurethane resin at the clamp mounting sites to help with slippage. But it takes a long time to prepare this method, which also requires special (read expensive and hard to come by) equipment like casting fixtures and vacuum pumps, and errors can come up during the clamping due to how difficult it can be to position soft tissues in a test that involves the effects of gravity.

“As a consequence, we aimed to explore alternative techniques which may facilitate tissue clamping, and aid in standardizing the clamping of soft tissues for biomechanical testing in a less time-consuming manner,” the researchers explained in their paper. “3D printing has meanwhile become broadly available, and such professional extrusion solutions can be utilized for customizing and printing fixtures and adjustments for biomechanical testing using commercially-available filaments. Furthermore, it can be utilized to provide affordable add-ons to existing testing devices all over the world, going beyond just soft-tissue biomechanics. The possibility of sharing existing digital models enables a broad availability and exchange of research and knowledge. 3D printing may also be used for clamping mechanisms, and variations in clamping design appear to be eased by the rapid-prototyping approach with the ubiquitously-available software.”

Standardization in material testing and test setup. Focus of this study will be the boxes highlighted in red.

During a quick Internet search, I found models of 3D printable clamps on Thingiverse, Instructables, and 3D Hubs, though none were for medical purposes. The research team’s clamping systems were designed using Creo 4.0 3D CAD software, and printed on an Ultimaker 3 Extended in commercially available ABS, PLA, nylon, and TPU filaments.

In their paper, the research team described their experience mounting human soft tissues, from three different anatomical regions with differing properties, using 3D printed clamps, and also compared this new way of clamping to their previous partial plastination method.

Co-authors of the paper are Mario Scholze, Aqeeda Singh, Pamela F. Lozano, Benjamin Ondruschka, Maziar Ramezani, Michael Werner, and Niels Hammer.

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INTAMSYS Launches Jigs and Fixtures-Themed Industrial 3D Printing Global Competition

Shanghai-based 3D printer manufacturer INTAMSYS, which stands for Intelligent Additive Manufacturing Systems, often makes the headlines for its reliable, industrial-grade FUNMAT 3D printers‘ capabilities in providing 3D printing solutions with tough, functional, high-performance, and high-temperature materials, such as PEEK and PEKK, ULTEM 1010 and ULTEM 9085, PSU, and PPSU, thanks to heated build plates, high-temperature nozzles, and breakthrough thermal technologies on active heated chambers.

INTAMSYS, which partners with many well-known companies around the world, operates several manufacturing and research facilities, and runs its own 3D printing service, provides solutions for many applications, ranging from medical, as in the case of this innovative PEEK knee brace, to industrial, such as making end-use parts, tools, jigs, and fixtures. The company is focusing on the latter for an exciting new event – INTAMSYS is hosting its very first competition this summer.

The Industrial 3D Printing Global Competition for Industry 4.0, focusing on a theme of Jigs and Fixtures, has officially launched, with entries being accepted up until August 31st, 2018. Over $10,000 in cash and prizes are at stake, so you should start preparing your entry soon.

Chun Pin Lim, the Marketing Director of INTAMSYS, said, “During our business visits in the USA, Europe and China, we’ve learned first-hand from our customers and partners that 3D printed jigs and fixtures in polycarbonate, nylon and PEEK have significantly improved lead time, worker safety and costs on their production floors.”

The aim of INTAMSYS’ new Industrial 3D Printing Global Competition is to identify and reward participants who can, as the company puts it, “best exemplify” the use of 3D printing solutions in terms of manufacturing jigs and fixtures, in order to achieve the best possible manufacturing lead time and cost savings.

This competition is open to any and all organizations, companies, and research and educational institutions around the world that currently use 3D printing to manufacture jigs and fixtures. When entering, participants must submit the following:

Full name of entity
First and last name(s) of team’s main contact person
Email and phone number, for award notification purposes only
Full address
Main purposes of the 3D printed jig or fixture and its dimensions in millimeters
Types of material used to 3D print fig or fixture

Competition entries must also include details regarding the cost, durability, lead time, and any other benefits of 3D printing the jig or fixture when compared to previously used fabrication methods. Additionally, entrants must include three photos – one of the jig or fixture being 3D printed, a photo of the fully printed object, and one of it while being used; check out this link to see sample photos.

The three competition winners will be announced on this site, and informed via either email or phone, on September 14th, 2018. The second runner-up will receive US$1,000, while the first runner-up will be awarded a prize of $2,000.

The winner of the competition will receive the grand prize: $2,000, a FUNMAT HT 3D printer, and 2 kg each of INTAMSYS nylon, PEEK, and polycarbonate filaments – all together, this prize is worth a total of $10,000, including global shipping costs for the 3D printer and filaments, which INTAMSYS will provide. Prizes are not exchangeable.

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