a.

PART

,625 DIA. ROLL

Fig. 4-4. Milling fixture drawn with conventional drafting methods. O t h e r details of
this drawing have been deleted because of limited space.

NOTES:
1. SCALE A L L DIMENSIONS NOT
SHOWN
2. FOR INFORMATION NOT SHOWN
WORK TO TOOLMAKERS STANDARD
PRACTICE
3. UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED, LOCATE
A L L SCREWS A N D DOWELS TO SUIT.

DIA. ROLL

Fig. 4-5.

Milling fixture drawn with simplified, econo~nicaldrafting methods.

Chapter 8

-23':
lV. *:

- ,

+/

Formed-section
Too1 Construction

In recent years. the use ofcommercizlly a\.a:lablt iormed-section materials

me increasingl? popular in th: construclion of low-cos; jigs and

ypes of standard formed mate ria!^ are ~ s e dmost frequenrl! in

tooltng construcrion. The!, are:
Stock premachlned cas; shapes and forms. and
Standard s;rtlctural forms.
This chapter descr~besths use of both of these types of mate ria!^. points
out the advan:ages of each. and provides examples of actual applications.

Premachined Sections and Forms

Figure 8-1. Standard commerc~alsect~onalshapes wed for Wql~ng

A wide variety of premachined sections ar: commercially available for

tooling construction. Some of the more common sections are shown in Figure
8.1. All of the sections are made or cas: iron or czst alumlnum which are
machined square and parallel aothin 0.005 in., ft (0.13 mm,'305 nun) on ali
surfacesexcept the end. The tolerance on ali fin~shedthicknesses is=I!64 in.
( ~ 0 . mm).
4
Inside radii on all 90" angles IS I :32 in. (O.OS mm;. Additional
machintng by the toolmaker is not normail!' required to qualify the finlshed
surfaces, and several shapes can be fastened together w ~ t honly screws and
dowels.
A typical drill jig constructed from premachined sec:ions is shown in
F ~ g u r e8-2. A standard commercial T-section was used for the base. and a
bushing plate made from a flat section was fastened to I t with screws and
dowels. Titejig was completed by adding standard jigfeet, drill bushings. and
clamps.
Cast iron mill fixture bases (Figure 6 - 3 ) and cored bench plates (Figure
8-4) a r e used extensive]! in the construction ofjigs and itxiures since their

Figure 8-4. Cored hench plate. (Coi~rre.~!.77ir Ci~al/e~t,rr

Macit~r~rr~.
C?II~I/IOI~I,)

/k/27&

Figure 8-2. Drill jig made from standard T-section

(Courie.r~..Srnndard Parts Cornpan),)

L=3#E

precision ground surfaces provide an excellent reference surface from which

to assemble the rest o i l h e jig o r fixture
Also. Tor economical and expeditious reasons. off-the-shelf cast angle
plates. right angle irons. box parallcis. and \'-blocks as s h o w in FigureR-5
are often used as hases around which to build jigs and fixtures. Two examples
of gages built around universal right angle irons arc illustrated in tlie
following figures:
The inspection fixture in Ftprrc 6-6was designed to check the parallelism
of the topand bottom surfaces ofthe part to thecommon centerline ofthc two
holes.
The inspection fixture in Fi~lrreR-7was designed to check the squareness
ofthe topsurface tothe common centerline of tlie two holes. This fixturcalso
includes a set block ground to the mean blueprint dimension to permit
checking the distance between the top surface and the centerline of tlic top
hole. Both fixtures are used on a surfacc plate w ~ t ha height gage and tes:
indicator.
Manufacturing practices and tolerances for this type of precision surface
r
equipment are given in F l ~ u r 6-8.

Design Simplification
Figure 8-6. Inspection fixture to check parallelism.

Design d r a a ~ n g sof jigs and fixtures liiade Irom prernacliined sectional

material ma) conslst simply of free-hand perspective sketches like thc milling
fixture in Figure8-9. Formal drawin,e~areseldom needed unlessthe t o o l i n i s
cvmplex or nonstandard components are used. In any case. design sketches
should be drawn neatly and should contain all information that the
toolmaker needs.

Reduction of Lead Time

u
Figure 8-7.lnspect~onfixture 10 check squareness.

Because the use of sectional materlal speeds the design and fabrication of
tooling, it is particularly useful when products must be manufactured with
minimum lead time. Not only isdesigningsinlplif~edandthereby speeded up.
but fabrication time is reduced. For example, the drill jig in Figure8-10 was
constructed from a U-shaped premachined cast iron section and a flat plate In
only 9.5 hours. a savings of 30% in construction time.