Fixture idea

Hi
I'm toying with the idea to make a fixture like this:
Quick Change Receiver and Blank Pallet | Mitee-Bite Products LLC.
A base plate and taper/diamond pin, with some expansion clamps.

Got more and more small parts to machine.
And for some bigger parts I need to make a fixture because I can't hold them in a vise.
Besides I can run more parts at the same time. Setup is also faster. And I can make one pallet ready when the other is in the machine.

But instead of using a aluminum base plate I'm thinking about steel. So there's a minimum galvanic corrosion between the machine table and fixture. I'm a bit scared that a aluminum base will damage the bed. And a steel fixture is more durable.

I know some zero point systems are made out 1.1730. steel.
What do you guys recommended on how to make the base plate?
I'm thinking about machining the plate, give it a heat treatment and send it to someone with a surface grinder?

I'll note that if you buy a similar plate from stevens engineering in the US, it comes with a "grease" (well, a tube of something) which you are to put on the table under the fixture plate - to prevent corrosion. I think it's more about coolant getting in the gap than galvanic corrosion per say.

Something to think about.

Thanks, just checked their subplates.
But 2.800usd without shipping to Europe...it will be a bit expensive

How big a fixture are we talking?

For small parts, a very simple chunk of 50mm thick aluminum (about 200mm X 200mm in XY) that indexes directly into the hard jaws of a standard vise can extremely efficient, without having to bother with fussy fittings, or screws or other complexities/expenses.

@lumalabs on Instagram: “Feeding the beast.
@oneeartim’s simple vise pallets in action”

tcncj - sent you a PM. Just a heads up.

For the cost of mitee bite pallets you can get Orange vises and use there pallet system and get the best of both worlds ,,, Pallets and vises all in one ..

D.D.Machine said:

For the cost of mitee bite pallets you can get Orange vises and use there pallet system and get the best of both worlds ,,, Pallets and vises all in one ..

Click to expand...

As much as I love my Orange setup, the pallet system is not very quick on the changes. She's a big chunk of aluminum, unlocking it can be slow, and getting the new one on the pins can be fussy. All in all, I budget just over a full minute to swap out a normal size Orange pallet.

Now that might not matter - these pallets are large, very stable, and locate really well. The size means you can really stuff a bunch of parts on there and get the total cycle time high enough that a 1 minute changeover is giving up nothing in spindle efficiency. A 30 minute runtime pallet will have 1 minute of changeover per hour, giving you a spindle uptime of 98.3%. No big deal.

Now if you have a shorter cycle time part, the 1 minute Orange change starts to really eat into cycle time efficiency compared to a 15 second Pierson pallet changeover. On a 5 minute cycle, the Orange would be 83% spindle uptime, where a 20 second Pierson change would be 94% spindle uptime. Across a longer production run, those time savings start to become significant.

The MiteeBite pallet looks slow to change and expensive...

Thanks for the replies

I didn't want to buy the mitee bite pallet. Because I think it's easy enough to make my own.

Buying new vices isn't an option.
Besides I'm not in the US and shipping 2 vices to the EU isn't cheap..
I use these vices: Company - Gerardi SPA

gkoenig said:

How big a fixture are we talking?

For small parts, a very simple chunk of 50mm thick aluminum (about 200mm X 200mm in XY) that indexes directly into the hard jaws of a standard vise can extremely efficient, without having to bother with fussy fittings, or screws or other complexities/expenses.

@lumalabs on Instagram: “Feeding the beast.
@oneeartim’s simple vise pallets in action”

Click to expand...

I think this is the cheapest way to guy that offers relative fast changes and cheap.
Does the pallet rest on the top of the jaws? And I assume there is a corner machined that hits the jaw and acts like a stop?
My fixtures are around 200x300mm