Setup and tooling advice for newby

[mhajicek]

If it were one of my clients they'd want milled chamfers top and bottom on the periphery and all holes.

 

[AARONT]

We need to know a quantity before we can give you the best options for workholding. If it's just a few, I'd toss it in a vise and interpolate it. If the quantity justifies it I would make a fixture like Rick Finsta describes. If it's a repeating job and you're doing thousands, I would make a vacuum fixture with pins to locate off of two of the holes.

As far as end mills go. Just get yourself some 3 flute uncoated Accupro's. They're cheap enough to learn with and cut decent. Otherwise any big name company will offer a 3 fl aluminum cutter that'll work good enough for what you're doing since you're just starting. I don't recommend getting any top end end mills while you're still learning.

 

[michiganbuck]

If it were one of my clients they'd want milled chamfers top and bottom on the periphery and all holes.

Plus what they want and where they want it.
RE: [I need a 1/16", 1/8" and 1/4" diameters]....Given in fractions is a big help.

 

[Bobw]

Plus what they want and where they want it.
RE: [I need a 1/16", 1/8" and 1/4" diameters]....Given in fractions is a big help.

Not always, I got one sitting out here. Fractions are ±1/64". 3 place decimals are ±.030"
2 place decimals are ±.060. Ground support of course, Somebody's nephew needed a job.

 

[LostFab]

Something worth learning is how to get your customers parts efficiently. In some cases that may mean you don't actually cut anything...

Why is he getting parts 90% done and adding one hole? Why not have them mill everything. Or better yet why not get them laser cut complete? A fiber laser will cut one of these faster than you could load/unload a part even with a slick toggle clamp fixture, and he will be able to get more parts/sqft of sheet saving money, and sheet is probably cheaper to begin with than barstock, if that's what he is getting that sawn and pre drilled...

 

[Bobw]

Something worth learning is how to get your customers parts efficiently. In some cases that may mean you don't actually cut anything...

Why is he getting parts 90% done and adding one hole? Why not have them mill everything. Or better yet why not get them laser cut complete? A fiber laser will cut one of these faster than you could load/unload a part even with a slick toggle clamp fixture, and he will be able to get more parts/sqft of sheet saving money, and sheet is probably cheaper to begin with than barstock, if that's what he is getting that sawn and pre drilled...

I have one job that I do every year. 60 to 130 of them a year, sometimes in multiple batches.

I modify a switch plate cover.

This cover.. Link----> McMaster-Carr

The one that is 82 cents. My customer needs a particular switch in a particular location.

He could have me make a complete switch cover.. Roll the edges over, buy the screws all that fun stuff,
buy the material... But that would cost a heck of a lot more than 82 cents, and then I would still have
to put the rectangular hole in it in a particular location..

I whack him $2.25 each. Set up is less than 5 minutes, depending on what is on the machine. Program was
almost nothing. Run time is like 23 seconds with essentially zero tool wear and 5 seconds of de-burr. We both win.

It is not un-common to modify common parts. They even do that shit on airplanes. If I had a dollar for every off the shelf part I've modified, I'd have a fraction of the money I've made modifying off the shelf parts.

I'd guess, its a modification, either to an off the shelf part, or a part the customer had made at one point, and now needs modified.

Also possible that its the ONE tight tolerance thing that matters on a sloppy plate. I did that a few weeks ago. 1/8" plate. Oddball shape, one sloppy hole, one tight hole with a counter bore. The profile and the sloppy hole were water jet. I just put in the tight hole and counter bore. It would have cost a fortune and multiple setups otherwise.

Edit: Forgot to mention.. you're right. If you can give your customer a suggestion that will save them $$$$.
It usually comes back to you.

 

[mhajicek]

SendCutSend.

 

[Booze Daily]

If it were one of my clients they'd want milled chamfers top and bottom on the periphery and all holes.

Yep. +/- .005 on the size too. Oh yeah, +/- 1/2 degree on the angle too.
(At least my medical customers did)

 

[michiganbuck]

Q:[Setup and tooling advice for newbie]

Our responsibility as mentors, experienced guys is to give advice that might insure this part might not be scrapped.
We don't know the tolerances or if the customer even provided a print.
Because the Op is a newbie, he did not consider providing such information, perhaps he did not know or ask the right questions.
We can't be that casual in our advice.

 

[LostFab]

I modify a switch plate cover.

Edit: Forgot to mention.. you're right. If you can give your customer a suggestion that will save them $$$$.
It usually comes back to you.

My point is (in your example) that if I could find those covers modified by someone else who specializes in that 'style' of work for $2, I can sell them to the customer for the standard $2.25 price (or even less) then I'm still making money doing essentially no work. I can instead spend that time on other jobs or out riding my bike.
That's a win-win, maybe even a third win because that job went to someone else in the supply chain.
We have all probably taken on jobs that weren't the best use of our time either because it was fun, we wanted a challenge, or we didn't know better. Experience teaches us how to tell which is which.