Fixture creation

00:02

In this lesson, we'll talk about fixture creation.

00:06

After completing this lesson, you'll be able to: Import a design, use align, create a fixture and create joints.

00:15

For this lesson, we're going to discuss how to use manufacture supplied CAD files and set them up in Fusion 360.

00:23

What we're going to do is we're going to navigate to the Lang Technik website.

00:27

You can do this by searching in your browser and picking the location and language of your choice.

00:32

From here, we need to find specific Workholdings that we want to use.

00:36

In my case, I'm going to go to Workholding.

00:39

On the left hand side I'm going to select Conventional Workholding and then I'm going to be using the Avanti series.

00:46

From here, there are several different options based on the size of the parts that you're using.

00:51

In this case, Avanti 125 and for our example, the 44355 with a 360 millimeter clamping range is going to be the right choice.

01:02

We also want to make sure that we understand with certain manufacturer’s websites, you need to supply information to download the CAD files.

01:10

So these aren't going to be provided.

01:12

And if you want to use them, you need to simply register with your email address before you are allowed to download the files.

01:19

Once you've entered your information, you can download the zip file and you can extract it on your local machine.

01:25

For this example, we're also going to be using the 44258 Avanti 125 add-on jaws.

01:32

There are two different options to download and we're going to be using the 44259-46 which is an aluminum version.

01:39

Once again, if you've already provided your information, you can simply download these files.

01:45

Once you have them downloaded on your local machine, you want to make sure that you extract them and then upload them to Fusion 360.

01:53

There are two different types of data sets provided with most of the Lang hardware.

01:58

You're going to have an XT, which is a para solid or a STEP file.

02:02

In some cases, you will also be provided other types of files depending on what system they were designed in.

02:07

But for our purposes, we're going to be using the STEP file.

02:11

You'll notice that it comes in with the Y up orientation so I'm going to make sure that I rotate this around.

02:17

And if you haven't already, make sure that you're in the Orthographic camera view as it will be easier for us to make our selections.

02:24

From here, we want to make sure that we set this up to work as a vise, in this case, a self-centering vise.

02:31

So we need to start by enabling Capture Design History.

02:35

The default settings whenever we're working in Fusion 360 for imported CAD files is to not capture them.

02:41

Once we have it captured, we're going to ground the base of the design and then we're going to apply As-built Joints.

02:49

The Joint Type will be Slider and we simply need to select the components and then the location.

02:54

For our purposes, I'm going to hover over the lead screw and hold down the Control or Command key and then select the endpoint.

03:02

Next we want to repeat that process by using our right click marking menu and selecting the other side.

03:08

Once again, holding Control or Command to pick the right point.

03:12

Now that we have these both setup, I'm going to expand my Joints folder and I want to add some limits.

03:19

For my Joint Limits, I'm going to select minimum and maximum values.

03:24

And then I want to make sure that I dragged this in this case to 70 millimeters,

03:28

noticing that it's going from minus 70 to 0 and now it moves exactly as it should.

03:34

We're going to use Assemble, Motion Link to link both slider joints together.

03:40

If they're both moving in the same direction, make sure you select reverse and then OK.

03:45

Now we've created our self-centering vise.

03:49

I'm going to save this.

03:52

The next thing that we want to do after it's been saved is drag the soft jaw directly into this design.

03:58

We're going to pull this up so that it's above our part,

04:00

and I want to make sure that the machine feature on the side is in the same orientation as the screw that will lock these together.

04:08

This means rotating this 90 degrees.

04:11

I'm not worried about manually positioning it because I'm going to use other tools that we have in order to position it properly.

04:18

We can use the Modify, Align option to get it in the right location and then we can use a Joint to lock it in place.

04:27

If you're familiar with applying joints, you can use the Joint option,

04:31

which allows us to select the components and the location of the joint and position it all in one shot.

04:37

So what we're going to do with the joint is select the center point of our arc,

04:42

and then for our second location, we’ll select the same point, the center point of the arc.

04:47

And we'll move them together.

04:49

The Motion Type is going to be Rigid and then we'll say OK.

04:53

Now when we move these together, you'll notice that it moves with the vise.

04:57

Because this is going to be machined to hold the rim, I'm going to only place one in for right now,

05:03

and then we'll modify the other side once it's placed in with our rim.

05:07

So for now I'm gonna save this.

05:09

I'm gonna say OK and then I'm going to move on to my fsae front rim derive.

05:16

When we take a look at this, it's not currently positioned at the origin and it doesn't need to be.

05:21

But if we want to move it to the origin, we can do that by using Move/Copy.

05:26

It's important to understand and identify the fact that the origin for the component is not centered at the rim either.

05:33

So in this case, we're going to be moving the body to the origin of the component.

05:38

So we use MoveCopy.

05:41

Bodies is selected, we’ll select this body and we can select multiple bodies if needed.

05:46

For example, we can go into our Rim Blank and select this body as well.

05:50

Then we want to use the Point to Point option.

05:54

Our selection is going from the center point on the back of the rim to the origin.

06:01

We're going to say OK.

06:02

And now we've moved both of those up to the origin of the component, which is also the origin of the main design.

06:09

I'm going to hide the Rim Blank for now, I'm going to minimize these.

06:13

I want to make sure that I do save this and then I'm going to bring the vise into this design.

06:19

We're going to drag and drop the vise just like we did when we added the soft jaw.

06:24

You might need to rotate this, in my case -90 degrees.

06:27

And I'm going to pull it up above the design and then I'm going to say OK.

06:33

It's important to note that when we're dealing with our rim, not everything is going to be flat.

06:40

So when we look at this design, this back face here is flat.

06:45

The bottom face where it mounts to the hub is flat, but this portion of the rim is not flat, it's at an angle.

06:51

So when we take a look at this, we want to make sure that we understand if the design itself is actually in the correct orientation.

06:59

So as we look at this from the front view with an Orthographic view, you can see that the rim itself is not flat.

07:06

Because we're setting up our coordinate system in the manufacture workspace,

07:10

it's not strictly an issue if your design doesn't line up with your coordinate system.

07:15

Where it becomes an issue is if you begin to create elements of that design, you want to make sure that your coordinate systems match.

07:22

In order to make sure that these work, we can position the vise and then move the rim to it.

07:27

Or we can reset the orientation of the rim.

07:31

We can do this by using Modify and Align and selecting our components.

07:37

So in our case, we want to make sure that the flat portion of this rim is going to match the flat portion of our soft jaw.

07:46

We can capture its position and we can say OK.

07:49

Notice that the Rim Blank didn't move with it.

07:52

We can use Align and we can move the Rim Blank as well.

07:57

The Rim Blank can be moved from this position to this position and again, we can capture it and say OK.

08:03

It's important to make sure that everything is in the correct orientation when you begin to design your fixturing.

08:10

So if you need to create some design elements, some sketches or features, you need to make sure that all the orientations are correct.

08:17

This usually isn't a problem.

08:19

But in our case because the rim was at a different angle in the original design, some of that angle carried over to all of these subsequent derives.

08:27

So we just need these final checks in place.

08:31

Now we can determine exactly how we want to hold the design.

08:35

In this case, we can pull the vise which is still free to move about.

08:39

We can pull the device down a little bit so that we're grabbing onto a portion of it.

08:45

We can use MoveCopy, we can move components, we can select the entire vise and then we can manually move it down a certain amount.

08:55

In this case, I'm going to grab onto a portion of the rim, I'm going to capture its position and I'm going to say OK.

09:02

Now this process again generally is very straightforward if all of the components are properly lined up.

09:08

But if you have to take these extra couple steps to make sure that all your coordinates are okay, it's important to do it at this stage.

09:16

Now that it's in the right orientation, we could carry on making any soft jaw geometry that we want.

09:22

Because creating soft jaws is an important step in the process,

09:26

but it is very much aligned to your specific component, we're not going to cover it here.

09:31

This is a fairly simple example and all it will require is a few extrudes or revolved cut in order to get that geometry.

09:38

In this case, I want to save the design and I'm going to come back and break the link between the original vise.

09:44

And notice that we have a link between sub components.

09:47

I'm going to include the sub components, break all the links.

09:50

So that way this vise is completely inside of my current design.

09:54

Once I've done that, I'll save it one more time and then I can move on to the next step.