Bar Clamps Bench Vises C-Clamps Clamps Dovetail Jigs Drill Press Vises Incra Jig Jigs & Fixtures Kreg Jig Milling Vises Miscellaneous Jigs & Fixtures Parallel Clamps Router Table Specialty Clamps Straight Edge Clamps Vises Wood Vises. 3D printed jigs and fixtures open up new possibilities on manufacturing-floor productivity. 3D printing processes are easy to implement and offer a wide variety of materials to support a part’s requirements, while eliminating cost, lead time and design barriers to adopting manufacturing aids on the shop floor.
How Additive Manufacturing Can Help
Complexity – 3D printing manufacturing aids rather than machining or molding allows you to design for optimal performance as additive manufacturing places fewer constraints on tool configuration. The addition of complexity typically does not increase build time or cost as compared to traditional manufacturing methods.
Consolidation – Eliminate or reduce assembly by consolidating several parts of the tool. Depending on the functionality and complexity, some multi-component jigs and fixtures can be merged into one contiguous component.
Ergonomics – Redesign your jigs and fixtures to improve handling, ease of use, and worker comfort. Additive manufacturing can produce certain features, such as contours or other organic shapes, with ease and no added cost that increases both safety and comfort of employees.
Weight Reduction – High-strength plastics offer a superior solution to conventional metal-cutting processes. Specialized light-weighting techniques can also be used to produce a strong component without all the heft.
Customization – Easily and cost-effectively produce tools customized for individual users, giving them greater control over their tasks and providing ultimate ergonomic support.
On-Demand Production – Reduce or even eliminate inventory requirements by producing fixtures and jigs as needed. This digital inventory also allows for painless design revisions and updates to ensure your tools are always performing optimally.
Ergonomics – Redesign your jigs and fixtures to improve handling, ease of use, and worker comfort. Additive manufacturing can produce certain features, such as contours or other organic shapes, with ease and no added cost that increases both safety and comfort of employees.
Weight Reduction – High-strength plastics offer a superior solution to conventional metal-cutting processes. Specialized light-weighting techniques can also be used to produce a strong component without all the heft.
Customization – Easily and cost-effectively produce tools customized for individual users, giving them greater control over their tasks and providing ultimate ergonomic support.
On-Demand Production – Reduce or even eliminate inventory requirements by producing fixtures and jigs as needed. This digital inventory also allows for painless design revisions and updates to ensure your tools are always performing optimally.
Printing Larger Parts Fast
Stratasys Direct Manufacturing is taking on-demand printing to the next level, combining a new .020” resolution with Fused Deposition Modeling and ASA thermoplastic resin to print large parts and tools faster than ever before. With print speeds 40-60% faster than our .013” resolution, we can economically manufacture parts and assemblies with production times unmatched in the industry – a perfect fit for your tooling, fixtures, and jigs.
Print Speed Comparison | |
---|---|
XD13 / T20 / .03' | 160 hours |
XD20 / T40 / .020' | 63 hours |
Timing savings | 97 hours |
Stratasys Direct Manufacturing now offers a full turn-key jigs and fixtures solution including services for creation and design, machining and assembly, even metrology and inspection of your fixtures. Click here to contact a Project Engineer today and see how Stratasys Direct Manufacturing can save you time and money on your jigs and fixtures.
A bicycle frame building jig
A jig is a type of custom-made tool used to control the location and/or motion of parts or other tools.
- 6References
Description[edit]
Device with grooves and chucks
A jig's primary purpose is to provide repeatability, accuracy, and interchangeability in the manufacturing of products.[1] A jig is often confused with a fixture; a fixture holds the work in a fixed location. A device that does both functions (holding the work and guiding a tool) is called a jig.[citation needed]
An example of a jig is when a key is duplicated; the original is used as a jig so the new key can have the same path as the old one. Since the advent of automation and computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines, jigs are often not required because the tool path is digitally programmed and stored in memory. Jigs may be made for reforming plastics.
Jigs or templates have been known long before the industrial age. There are many types of jigs, and each one is custom-tailored to do a specific job.
Drill jig[edit]
A drill jig is a type of jig that expedites repetitive hole center location on multiple interchangeable parts by acting as a template to guide the twist drill or other boring device into the precise location of each intended hole center. In metalworking practice, typically a hardened drill bushing lines each hole on the jig plate to keep the tool from damaging the jig.
Drill jigs started falling into disuse with the invention of the jig borer.
Since the widespread penetration of the manufacturing industry by CNC machine tools, in which servo controls are capable of moving the tool to the correct location automatically, the need for drill jigs (and for the jobs of the drill press operators who used them) is much less than it used to be.
PCB jig[edit]
Printed circuit board (PCB) jigs are used to test PCBs. They have a dump board inside the jig which can find faults in the PCBs.
Jewelry jig[edit]
A jig used in making jewelry, a specific type of jig, is a plate or open frame for holding work and helping to shape jewelry components made out of wire or small sheets of metal. A jig in the jewelry making application is used to help establish a pattern for use in shaping the wire or sheets of metal. In the jewelry application, the shaping of the metal is done by hand or with simple hand tools like a hammer.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
- Henriksen, Erik Karl (1973), Jig and fixture design manual, Industrial Press, ISBN978-0-8311-1098-7.
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