Have a medium sized order of thin plate parts to mill out of a larger sheet, 10 gauge (~0.130 or so) steel 1011 structural plate.
I can screw the plates down reasonably well, there is enough material in between the parts to get screws in the right places with adequate clearance, but once the part profiles are 2d contour'd out they will be free floating and probably break stuff without tabs.
So, how often does a vacuum plate come in handy for a job shop (looking at a pierson one) in your experiences, and is it better than filing off tabs on ~500 parts?
About the tabs, using a corner radius endmill or a high feed mill to mill the contour (full slot) leaves the radius on the tab making it harder to remove than it should be, very unsightly. I suspect I'm going to use a 3 flute square coated endmill for steel to do the profile contours if tabbing is chosen.
Any other thoughts on vacuum workholding, sheet metal, high feed mills, tabs, or life in general?
I can screw the plates down reasonably well, there is enough material in between the parts to get screws in the right places with adequate clearance, but once the part profiles are 2d contour'd out they will be free floating and probably break stuff without tabs.
So, how often does a vacuum plate come in handy for a job shop (looking at a pierson one) in your experiences, and is it better than filing off tabs on ~500 parts?
About the tabs, using a corner radius endmill or a high feed mill to mill the contour (full slot) leaves the radius on the tab making it harder to remove than it should be, very unsightly. I suspect I'm going to use a 3 flute square coated endmill for steel to do the profile contours if tabbing is chosen.
Any other thoughts on vacuum workholding, sheet metal, high feed mills, tabs, or life in general?
