"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Apr 2013 08:57:14 -0700, "PrecisionmachinisT"
wrote:


"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:22:33 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

"Pete C." fired this volley in news:517189f8$0
:

Dedicated fixtures are for production or at the very
least commercial work where there are funds to cover the cost of those
fixtures. Those of us doing personal projects don't like to waste
perfectly good material on a one off fixture.


Fixtures can be as simple as a waste plate with a few bolts through the
workpiece. If it changes for every new workpiece layout, it is - in a
sense - a "dedicated fixture".

Lloyd

heh...one of my first memories when I got my job at _American
Machinist_ and started visiting job shops was the "fixtures" rack in
one particular shop. I thought it was a staging area for cutoffs and
scrap.

There must have been fifty of the things on that rack. I wonder how
those guys remembered which one was for which job. g


A ledger, indexed by part number; if the job uses several tools then each
one has a sub-entry every space on the rack has a definite name such as
rack 16 shelf 5 pos k......

Each tool is engraved with the part and fixture number in case it ever
gets
misplaced; the planning traveler spells out which tools are needed to make
any particular part.

---

When I first went to work at Lazy B, fixtures were ordered from a
wharehouse
located several miles a away, you could expect a delay of at least 1/2
shift
and so it was important to order in advance--the ordering procedure
involved
dialing into a computer main frame, placing the telephone handset onto a
teletype modem and then accurately typing in several pieces of pertinint
data in strict order.

http://eksfiles.net/wp-content/uploa...5-computer.jpg

Yeah, I realize how it's normally done. I'm sure those guys could
connect the jobs with the fixtures.

I was referring to what really was a bunch of junk stuck together to
do onesies and twosies. If there was any organization to it, it wasn't
apparent. These guys just couldn't throw anything away. I was being
slightly facetious.

I was co-owner of a job shop in the mid-'70s. We had junk "fixtures"
like that, too. Somehow we remembered what went with what. But it
usually didn't matter, because perhaps 90% of our work was scientific
and engineering models and test equipment for Princeton and Forrestal
Research Center, and no two jobs were ever alike.

We were packrats, too. g


I probably have a couple tons needing to go to the scrap yard..

--no hurry though..