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Problem-free dispatch has been assisted by the standardization of transport units, such as containers, while the standardization of certain components and some dimensions permits the use of standard handling equipment and means of transport.We will describe fundamental components and designs first of all with reference to standard box containers. More detailed information is given under the heading 'Container types'.
| Basic container frame |
The load-carrying element of all box containers is a steel framework, consisting of four corner posts and two bottom side rails, two top side rails, two bottom cross members, a front top end rail and a door header.
| Bottom cross members serve as supports for the container floor. |
Additional bottom cross members are fitted between the bottom side rails, to serve as supports for the floor covering.
| Side walls | End walls |
| Roof panel |
The side and end walls and the roof are the components of a standard box container which are capable of bearing the least load. To a certain degree, this naturally also depends on the construction materials used for them.
The following three Figures illustrate the essential components of standard box containers. Not included by name are, for example, the door bar handles, the locking components required for sealing, etc. Where necessary, descriptions of and comments about these components are provided at other points in the Handbook.
| Essential components of a container |
| Part names in the area of the container floor |
A comparison of German and English part names is given below:
| German name | English name |
| Eckbeschlag | corner fitting; corner casting |
| Ecksäule | corner post |
| (unterer) Seitenlängsträger | bottom side rail |
| (oberer) Seitenlängsträger / Dachlängsträger | top side rail |
| unterer Querträger front also known as: Stirnschwelle rear also known as: Türschwelle / Türuntergurt | bottom end rail; door sill |
| oberer Querträger / Dachquerträger front also known as: Stirnträger rear also known as: Türträger / Türobergurt | front top end rail door header |
| Boden | floor |
| Stirnwand | front end wall |
| Bodenquerträger | bottom cross member |
| Dach | roof panel |
| Dachspriegel (e.g. in open-top containers) | roof bows |
| Seitenwände | side panel; side wall |
| Gabelstaplertasche | forklift pocket |
| Türverschlußstange | door locking bar |
| Scharnier | hinge |
| Nocke | cam |
| Nockenhalterung | cam keeper |
| Türdichtung | door gasket |
In the early days of container shipping, the majority of containers were constructed according to ASA standards, but now the containers used for maritime transport are almost without exception ISO containers.
| ISO Corner Casting | ASA Corner Casting | |
They differ both in dimension and in the shape of the corner fittings or 'corner castings'. Most ASA containers, i.e. containers like those used by Sealand constructed according to 'American Standards Association' standards, have since been adapted to match ISO dimensions. To simplify handling, special universal spreaders were used, which could handle both types without difficulty.
| ISO corner castings - horizontal and vertical mirror images |
ISO standard 1161 specifies different shapes for top and bottom and mirror images for right and left.
The eight corner castings of a container or a corresponding CTU have to be particularly strong, since they work with the corner posts and the other basic components of the container frame to absorb the forces which lock units or lashings exert on containers when they are stacked on top of one another, during handling and during transport.
| Securing on board |
| Cargo handling |
| Securing on a chassis |
| DIN/ISO standards specify certain minimum requirements for the loading capacity and stackability of containers; while higher levels of performance may be provided for individual properties, lower levels may not. It must be possible to stack six ISO containers packed to the maximum weight vertically on top of one another. Maximum offset is set as follows: widthwise - 24.4 mm (1'), lengthwise - 38 mm (1½'). |
| The actual values of modern containers are generally higher. Many are designed to be stacked eight or nine high. The maximum stacking load must be marked on the CSC plate. (More details are given in the relevant section of the Handbook). |
According to safety regulations, stacked containers must where necessary be secured against toppling and shifting.
| Indicating stacking heights on a container |
| Inland containers are only designed to be stacked three high when fully loaded. |
Irrespective of the material used to build a box container, it is essential for it to be spray-tight.
In standard box containers, the load-carrying parts are made of steel profiles, i.e. at least the entire frame including the bottom cross members and possibly also the elements serving as reinforcements, such as bottom side rails in the area of the gooseneck tunnel etc. Three main types of material are used for the walls and roof:
- steel sheet, corrugated
- aluminum sheet in conjunction with stiffening profiles
- plywood with glass fiber-reinforced plastic coating (plywood + GRP)
- steel container
- aluminum container
- plywood container
| Variously corrugated steel sheet |
In steel sheet containers, a wide range of differently profiled corrugated steel sheet may be used for the outer walls. It is protected against corrosion by painting or similar processes.| Indication of container wall material | Repair instructions on a steel container |
The cost advantages of this type of container have led to its current dominance. Of all the containers currently in use, a rough estimate would suggest that 85% are made of steel sheet.
| Aluminum container skin |
Aluminum containers are built either with a pure aluminum skin or with a plywood inner lining; they may also either be riveted or with a smooth or lightly riveted finish.
In plywood containers, the outer walls are made of plywood coated with glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GRP). Plywood is a popular material for 'coffee containers'.
| Container doors are often also made of plymetal, which consists of a plywood core with sheet metal adhered to it on both sides. |
| Materials information on containers |
It is clear from these examples that containers are not generally made from a single material but various material combinations, here including steel, aluminum and plywood. The information even covers the type of preservatives used.
| Wood treatment information |
Special impregnation against insect or other pests is required for certain regions of service. Most container floors or wooden parts undergo preventive treatment.
| Wood treatment information |
| Materials used for a flatrack |
| Plywood floor | Repair to floor |
Box containers are predominantly provided with coverings of plywood or textured coated board mostly 25 mm thick, more rarely 30 mm thick. Although wood is relatively expensive, it has substantial advantages over other materials: it is strong and resilient, does not dent, may be easily replaced during repairs and, when appropriately finished, has an adequate coefficient of friction. The latter does not apply to the virtually new container in the left-hand Figure, which has a mirror-bright finish.
| Cross-section through a seven-ply plywood board |
| Planking | Steel floor | |
Planking is preferred for flatracks and other similar platform containers. 20' platforms or half-height open-top containers often have a floor of steel, e.g. of 'tear drop' or otherwise textured sheet.
The floors of ISO containers have to be capable of bearing the evenly distributed payload, the emphasis being on 'evenly distributed'.
The following test criteria apply where ground conveyors have access to container floors.
| Axle load | 12,040 | lbs / 5,460 kg |
| Wheel load | 2,730 | kg |
| Contact surface per wheel | 142 | cm² |
| Wheel width | 180 | mm |
| Wheel gage | 760 | mm |
The wheel contact area of 142 cm² corresponds approximately to the size of a postcard. Forklift trucks with a load-carrying capacity of 2 metric tons have axle loads of just under 5 metric tons when loaded. Most 2.5 metric ton forklifts are within the admissible range. However, some electrically operated 2.5 metric ton forklift trucks reach front axle loads of over 6,000 kg when loaded. It is of course possible for even heavier forklift trucks to drive into containers, provided they are not fully loaded and the equipment and cargo dimensions allow it. It is essential to note that add-ons reduce the load-carrying capacity of forklifts, but increase the front axle load. Goods may only be stacked in box containers using equipment with a suitable telescopic mast. Using equipment with twin tires may reduce the wheel loads, but it doesn't completely resolve the issue of axle load. It shouldn't therefore be regarded as a license to use heavier equipment.
The strength of ISO containers is laid down in the relevant DIN standards and/or the International Convention for Safe Containers:
ISO containers must be capable of absorbing the horizontal forces arising during regular service at the level of the end frames.
| Longitudinal loading capacity in the floor area |
Containers must withstand loads in the lengthwise direction which correspond to external acceleration of 2 g acting horizontally on the floor fastening elements. This takes into account loads which are transmitted via twist locks and other vehicle locking elements to containers. Special railroad container cars with hydraulic shock absorption limit forces to 2 g; examples of these cars are Lgjs, Sgjs and Sgjkmmns cars and other cars with a j in their name, the j indicating high-performance (long-stroke) shock absorbers or buffers.
| According to the CSC, end walls must be so constructed that forces of 0.4 times the uniformly applied payload may be absorbed, i.e. 40% of the container payload or 0.4 g. Higher or lower values should be marked on the containers. |
| End wall loading capacity |
| The loading capacity of the side walls must correspond to 0.6 times the uniformly applied payload, i.e. 60% of the payload or 0.6 g. Higher or lower values should again be marked on the containers. More details are given in Section 3.1.2 CSC & structural and testing regulations'. |
| Side wall loading capacity |
Since the values for end and side walls are valid only for large-area loads, any point loading of the walls should be avoided. Because the weight-carrying capacity of many general purpose containers is not fully utilized, loading is kept below the maximum values in the case of compact and even packing. However, if the rate of utilization is high and/or uneven, countermeasures must be taken.
| In the case of container roof panels, an evenly distributed 200 kg load may be applied to a surface area of 600 x 300 mm, so meaning that two people may stand next to one another on the container roof. Under no circumstances may container roof panels be covered with cargo. |
Some containers are fitted with forklift pockets for handling with ground conveyors. Appropriate regulations relating to the required dimensions may be found in appendix C of ISO 1496/1. The pockets are cavities formed crosswise in the floor structure and allow insertion of the forks from the side; the forks must be pushed fully into the pockets. Forks which are too short must under no circumstances be used for lifting, since they may cause damage to the floor.
| Unmarked forklift pockets on a box container. |
The forklift pockets generally only allow handling of empty containers. Packed containers must not be picked up in this way unless specifically permitted. This is not the case here; hence, the container may only be picked up with forks when empty.
| Forklift pockets on a flatrack marked EMPTY |
| Forklift pockets on a flatrack not marked EMPTY |
| Both containers may only be picked up when empty. |
For the most part, no marking is provided or no explicit instruction is given to pick up only empty containers, missing. To rule out errors, marking should be made a requirement.
| Marking variant: the arrows bear the mark 'Tare'. |
The containers shown here merely bear the marking 'Tare' at the inner forklift pockets. The outer pairs of pockets lack markings or symbols. It is obvious here that the arrangement of these pockets also allows handling of the full container by forklift truck, but one can never be sure. This example shows that there is a need for marking to be mandatory.
| Forklift pockets on a 'tilt' container |
With this container, it is even less certain how the forklift pockets are to be used. Standardized regulations and compliance therewith in practice could help in the avoidance of many losses resulting from the incorrect use of these components.
| Straddle carrier recess |
Some containers have a recess along the longitudinal sides which allows the containers to be picked up using straddle carrier load suspension devices for transport within cargo handling facilities. Straddle carriers are specially built (low) van carriers with which loads may be lifted but not stacked.
| Handling a swap-body with grappler in grappler pockets |
| Grappler pocket in a semitrailer | Grappler pocket in a swap-body |
Grappler pockets are slots or recesses in the bottom side rails of containers or other CTUs, especially inland containers and swap-bodies. Grapplers slot into them during cargo handling. Such grapplers may also be used with gantry cranes, if no spreaders are used. Grappler pockets also allow direct pick-up of the containers with the tongs of a van carrier.
| Detailed images of grapplers |
| Gooseneck tunnel |
Many containers have recesses in the bottom of the front end This centrally located recess is known as a gooseneck tunnel. A large number of CTUs, especially flatracks have them at both ends. The tunnel does not have any effect on loading space, the inside of the container floor or the flatrack loading area being flat. This recess serves in centering the container on a gooseneck chassis.
| Container with gooseneck tunnel on a normal container chassis | Container with gooseneck tunnel on a gooseneck chassis |
Containers with goosenecks can be carried on both normal chassis and gooseneck chassis. Containers without goosenecks can only be carried on normal chassis. Depending on the construction of the chassis, a lower road vehicle overall height may be achieved with gooseneck chassis. In this way, many articulated trucks can see their height reduced by approx. 150 mm.
| 40' flatrack with gooseneck tunnel | 20' flatracks without gooseneck tunnel |
In accordance with the standards, gooseneck tunnels are only provided for 40' containers.
A Fixture Plate (also called Tooling Plates and Modular Fixtures) can save you a tremendous amount of time and work when setting up a CNC Machine. This Complete Guide walks you through what they are, how to use them, how to make one or buy one, and a review of one popular Fixture Plate.
A Quick Video Introduction to Fixture Plates
Here’s the CNC Chef video I did for Cutting Tool Magazine on Fixture Plates:
What is a Fixture Plate (aka Tooling Plate or Module Fixture Plate)?
Pictured above is a typical Fixture Plate. Some things to note about it:
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- There’s a grid of threaded holes there. They’re protected from chips by set screws that you remove when you’re ready to use a particular hole.
- Engraved letters and numbers create a coordinate system to uniquely identify each hole.
Install a Fixture plate on your CNC Mill’s table. Most CNC mills have T-Slot tables like this one:
Secure Workholding devices such as fixtures and vises to the machine’s table using bolts and T-Slot nuts:
The nuts slide along the T-Slot until positioned where you want them.
With a fixture plate, bolt fixtures on using the threaded holes in the plate.
Why use a Fixture Plate?
We can bolt fixtures onto the mill table just fine with T-Slots. So why use a fixture plate at all?
With T-Slots, the T-Slot nuts slide. A fixture can thus be located anywhere. That sounds great except that the fixtures can be anywhere. With a Fixture Plate, your fixtures can’t be located anywhere. They have to go into the grid of available holes. In other words, with a Fixture Plate, fixtures are always at a well-defined location.
What if your g-code programs could take advantage of a fixture always being in the same place? With T-Slots, you install the fixture, measure its location, and then set up a work offset to tell the g-code where the fixture is. That takes a lot of time.
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With a fixture plate, you measure the location once, and so long as you always install the fixture in the same holes, you won’t need to measure again.
That saves a lot of time during setup. In fact, not only is the fixture in the same place, but it is also oriented in the same way. With T-Slots, you can get a fixture clamped down to the slots, and not only is it not always in the same place, it could be slightly rotated or cocked in its location.
This is a problem for things like vises, where we want the jaws to be parallel to the X-axis travel of the machine. In fact, operators spend time aligning vises with that travel, a process called tramming the vise. But with a fixture plate, the vise can be accurately installed and square, so you skip the tramming step. More time saved!
Modern shops see a lot of what’s called High Mix Low Volume work. That means they make a lot of different parts, but very few of each specific part. Because of that, setup time is a bigger percentage of shop time than it used to be. Using a Fixture Plate reduces that time and so is very important for High Mix Low Volume Work.
Fixture Plates will save you time, but they have a couple other advantages too. They present a clean path for coolant and chips to escape. They also help protect your machine’s table from crashes, dings, and other damage.
Here’s another advantage of Fixture Plates–they make machining parts that are too big for your machine’s travel easier.
With an accurate Fixture Plate, you can machine big parts in sections, moving the part to allow access to each section. That’s very hard to impossible to do with T-Slots.
For more on machining big parts see this article:
[ Tips for Parts That are Too Big for Your CNC Machine ]
Fixture Plate G-Code Programming
Let’s see how to combine Fixture Plates with a little simple g-code programming to save time.
One idea is to take advantage of the hole grid on the fixture plate by pre-programming work offsets to where your fixtures go. But on the other hand, with some controls, you run out of work offsets pretty quickly. You’ll have to reuse them, since they’re scarce. Or, you’re in a shop environment where someone else may have changed a work offset without telling you. You can’t rely on them staying the same.
How do you handle that?
Well, you could indicate the work offset from the vises (or fixtures) each time. That wastes the potential of the modular fixturing setup though.
What if you could run a little g-code program to set the work offsets up for each fixture? Maybe you have a standard library of these little initialization programs, or maybe a USB key with the program accompanies each fixture. Either way, if you could just run that little program and initialize your work offsets to the proper values for your fixture, that would be very slick and could save you a lot of time, right?
Lucky you–it turns out that a g-code called “G10” is perfect for doing exactly that!
With G10, you can set the values for any work offset. Let’s say the coordinates of the fixed rear jaw, left front corner, on the left vise in the picture above are X20.0 Y11.733 Z0.0 on that left jaw when you drop it into the proper grid position on the fixture plate. You’ve also got a set of fixed coordinates for the right vise. Run your short g-code program with a couple of G10’s in it, and Bob’s your uncle (not really), the work offsets are set and you’re ready to start running parts.
For full details on how to use G10, check out the new chapter I just created for our free g-code course: G10 setting tool and work offsets. You are going to love how easy it is to use G10 and how much it helps you to automate your setup further with modular fixtures. Hey, if you’ve never done any g-code programming, don’t worry. We have a free course on the basics of g-code programming, G10 is easy, and our G-Wizard Editor software will even simulate it so you can practice your G10 work before you have to run it on a live machine.
Soon you’ll wonder why you wasting so much time setting things manually!
Fixture Plate Review: Tosa Tool Fixture Plate
Let’s go a little more in-depth with a particular feature plate. I received a plate from Dan Bye of Tosa Tool for review purposes and installed it on my Tormach PCNC 1100 CNC Mill. Yes, journalists get free product a lot of time, but I’ll tell you the straight 411 about a product anyway. My CNCCookbook business is far more important to me than any review, so I’m not afraid to be critical if need be.
Tosa Tool specializes in modular fixturing solutions. Fixture plates are literally the foundation for modular fixturing. The plate I received was their model TT1634C but with some minor blemishes not affecting its function. I got mine free, but the normal cost for the exact same plate is $1100. It measures 34″ x 16″ x 3/4″ thick, and is larger than the Tormach’s table.
It still fits fine in the PCNC 1100 enclosure. Plus, the larger size means there is room for fixture related stuff to sit outside the work envelope. That can be important when trying to use the full envelope:
Note that some of the stand-offs for this right angle drilling rig are off the table. Handy to have a larger fixture plate!
Installing the Tosa Tool Fixture Plate
Installing the Tosa Tool Fixture plate took a grand total of about 20 minutes. Making sure it was set up correctly was easy to do using their key system.
These plates are HEAVY, so take care and get help if need be. One thing to keep in mind when handling heavy components is don’t ever lift them clear. It’s all about tilting and pivoting so that most of the weight is supported by the machine table. Then all you have to do is safely guide the plate to its desired location. Also, be careful not to pinch your skin between Fixture Plate and Table or you’ll be sorry!
I used the following procedure to install the Fixture Plate on my Tormach:
- Unbox the Fixture Plate from its crate.
- Clean your machine’s table so there’s no chips or debris. Stone away any nicks and imperfections. You want a good surface for the Fixture Plate to lay on.
Lay down some rust preventative on your machine table. I like to use a product intended for firearms called “Break-Free.” It’s available inexpensively from Amazon–about $22 for a nice spray bottle as I write this. I use it constantly around the shop to rust proof my tools. Put down a lot more than you think you need. I made a virtual oil slick that made it easy to slide the Fixture Plate around until it was position perfectly.
- Pick up the Fixture Plate from its crate, position is bottom side up and lay it on the machine table. Yes, that’s right, lay it on there upside down.
Install the keys in 2 dowel holes on the underside of the plate.
Pivot the plate to expose the T-Slots on the right side of the table. Pivoting is easy with the oil slick of rust preventative!
Install 3 T-Slot Nuts, one in each slot. Position the top and bottom at the right end of the T-Slot. Slide the middle one as close to center as you can reach.
- Pivot the other way to expose the T-Slots on the left side.
- Install 2 T-Slot Nuts in the top and bottom T-Slots on the left. Position them at the end of the T-Slot.
- Flip the Fixture Plate so the keys are down near or on the middle T-Slot
- Pivot the Fixture Plate so it lines up flush with the back and right edges of the table. If it wasn’t already seated with the keys, they’ll drop into place.
- Now, having made sure the Fixture Plate is in the right place, you can see where the T-Slot Nuts are. Use a tool such as a drift to reach through the Fixture Plate holes and align the T-Slot Nuts with the proper holes.
Finger tighten the 5 Cap Screws, then go back and use a hex key to snug them down.
You’re done installing your new Tosa Tool Fixture Plate! And wasn’t that easy?
The alignment keys for the T-Slots and the oil slick of rust preventative made it super easy for me.
Nice Features
The Tosa Tool Fixture Plates are well made and have some premium features found on much more expensive plates and not available from the other inexpensive vendors. Here are my favorites:
Packed in a Wooden Crate, not Cardboard
My Tosa Fixture Plate arrived in a nice wooden crate. No cardboard here! It’s a precision component, so I appreciate the extra protection afforded by the crate.
Keys for the T-Slots
I love the key system for aligning the Tosa Tool Fixture Plate to the machine’s T-Slots.
Mixture of Dowel Pin (Smooth) and Threaded Holes
The hole grid on a Tosa Tool Fixture Plate alternates smooth (dowel pin) and threaded holes. The threaded holes take 1/2-13 bolts, and the dowel pin holes are 0.5005″ in diameter and finished smooth.
Why 2 kinds of holes?
Some vendors tap every single hole on the plate, but having both smooth bore and threaded holes is a better design. When using a Fixture Plate, the holes perform 2 functions:
- Location: This is the role of dowel pin (smooth) holes on the Tosa Fixture Plates.
- Fastening: This is the role of threaded holes.
If we make one hole perform both functions, we reduce the tolerance and repeatability with which we can perform the Location function. Imagine dropping a dowel pin down two bores. One is half or even 1/3 as long as the other. Remember, we’re talking 1/2″ diameters in bores that are 3/4 to maybe 0.8″ deep. There’s a chamfer at the top and bottom so we have even less length available. Which bore is going to hold the pin more accurately vertical and in position?
My money is on the full depth bore. If you do go with a combination bore (threaded and smooth sections), make sure the smooth section is at least 1 diameter in depth so dowel pins are positioned with sufficient accuracy
In addition, if we have to thread a shorter length to make room for a Locating Dowel Pin, we reduce the amount of thread available for fastening. What will that do to the strength and stability of our workholding solution?
Steel vs Aluminum Fixture Plates
Dan makes fixture plates from a couple grades of steel (Hot Rolled (“H” plates) and 4140 (“C” plates)), but he does not sell aluminum plates. He tried them for a while, recommending them only to those who work with wood and plastics. I think he may have a few in stock that are “deals”, but he has discontinued making any more.
Steel plates receive a Black Oxide treatment to protect them from rust while aluminum plates are anodized. The “C” plates of 4140 are the most expensive because of the greater material expense.
Aluminum Fixture Plates are available from some other vendors, and they are considerably cheaper. So why use steel? There are a number of reasons:
- Vibration is always an issue with machine tools, and aluminum has a much lower damping capacity than steel.
- The Thermal Expansion of aluminum is also higher than for steel. We’re looking to Fixture Plates for accuracy and repeatability, but if temperatures change much, aluminum will make that a problem. Especially when we consider the large size of a Fixture Plate, which can magnify the issue.
- As we all know, steel is quite a bit stronger than aluminum. Again, we’re looking to our Fixture Plate for accuracy, but we’re also looking for durability over time. Aluminum is much more likely to get nicked. The dowel holes can become deformed by lateral pressure on steel pins (especially when they’re not full depth), and threads can be pulled out of aluminum more easily. If your holes are multi-purpose (i.e. smooth bore at top and threads at bottom) and you tap a dowel pin into the hole, you’ll trash the aluminum threads below pretty quickly.
- Aluminum and your table’s cast iron will suffer galvanic corrosion together. Hard anodizing the aluminum will help a ton to reduce that.
Aluminum is a great material for many purposes, but I prefer steel for Fixture Plates. The one exception is where weight is a problem. This is more likely an issue for rotary axis tombstones than for Fixture Plates.
One way to improve on an aluminum plate is to install hardened bushings. Of course this will negate most if not all the cost advantage. One can also choose to install the hardened bushing only on holes that become damaged.
Precision Made
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Inspecting Tosa Tool plates on a CMM to ensure tight tolerances…
When Dan Bye makes a Fixture Plate, he specifies that the hole bores are located within 0.0004″ tolerance. Plates are blanchard ground to start and finish ground at the end. Every 5th plate is checked on a CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) to ensure tolerances stay tight. Sounds great, but why is it so important?
The precision doesn’t affect most of the functions of a Fixture Plate at first glance. After all, the fact a hole is off its theoretical ideal position by 0.001″ doesn’t affect repeatability or most other factors. What it does affect is how easily we can use more than one hole to locate and orient whatever we’re positioning on the Fixture Plate.
In an example below, I set up a vise on the Fixture Plate and it is properly trammed with no further effort. That means the three locator pins have to be positioned relative to one another with sufficient tolerance for that to happen.
But it gets worse. Let’s say I want to make a little sub-plate that drops on to the fixture plate. We’ll use dowel pins to position the sub-plate and bolts to hold it down. This is a very common scenario when putting, for example, a plate fixture, down on the Fixture Plate.
There’s no give in any of the dowel pin holes to speak of–they have to be pretty tight for everything to line up. In fact, we may have to tap them into place with our brass machinist’s hammer. Now imagine every single hole on the Fixture Plate is off by 0.001″. That means we probably have to know exactly which holes the sub-plate will be mated to and it can’t sit just anywhere on the table. We also have to know exactly where those holes are literally by measuring them.
Suddenly our Fixture Plate is a lot less convenient to use. The alternative is we loosen up tolerances and make bigger holes in the sub-plate. Of course that means it will be positioned less accurately.
You don’t want a Fixture Plate that isn’t made to pretty exacting standards, otherwise it can’t do its job of locating things accurately and repeatably very well.
Economical Pricing
Tosa Tool’s Fixture Plates are not the cheapest available, but they’re very economical when you consider how well they’re made and what the alternatives are that include similar features.
Part of a System
I saved the best for last. Fixture Plates are just the starting point for true Modular Fixturing solutions. Tosa Tool has an extensive line of accessories that cover virtually any need. At his price points, that is unusual to see, but it is the norm for much more expensive high-end solutions. It’s great to be able to add more capability through these accessories which are also very reasonably priced.
I have a number of the accessories, and more are coming along soon. I’ll be adding either to this article or in separate articles to talk about them over time.
Example: Set Up a Vise on a Fixture Plate
Now that you’ve got a Fixture Plate on your mill, let’s do something useful with it. Consider setting up a vise on the Fixture Plate. We’ll use our normal clamps to mount the vise, except that they’re screwed into the fixture plate instead of T-Slot Nuts. I’m not going to bother showing that because it’s nothing new.
But here’s what is new:
We can ensure the vise is installed repeatably to the same location and perfectly trammed very easily. Basically, the Fixture Plate locates your vise in the Z direction, so what we need to do is repeatably locate the rectangular base to an exact location and make sure it’s square.
Doing that requires us to locate 3 points, which are shown here:
I’m using some dowel pins that are part of Tosa’s modular fixturing kit. It comes with a variety of gizmos. Here are just a few of the locating pin variety:
Locating pins for threaded holes, pins for smooth bores, and two keys for Tormach’s Milling Vise…
To use the three pins, place the vise on the Fixture Plate and slide it up against the two side pins. This locates the vise on the X-axis and ensures it is square (trammed) to the Fixture Plate.
Next, slide it back so the rear edge contacts the rear locating pin. That locates the vise on the Y-axis.
We’ve now located the vise on all 3 axes and ensured it is square to the table. If we take care while clamping to ensure the vise remains in contact with the three pins, we will have installed it ready to go in a very short time. No tramming required!
We can set up a work offset on the machine for the left corner of the fixed jaw, and the g-code will also know exactly where to find the vise and can assume that corner is part zero. Now if we design parts with that in mind, we save all sorts of time.
And, if we need to pull the vise off and use another fixture, we can put the vise back on when finished with the other fixture and not even have to change our work offset (assuming it still has the old value).
Are you beginning to see the value of Modular Fixtures and Fixture Plates?
We can make the install go even faster by using a sub-plate that the vise is mounted to. Tosa Tool makes one just for that purpose.
Build Your Own Fixture Plate
If you’re like me, you considered building your own Fixture Plate. Seems pretty straightforward, right? I will lay out what you need to know to build a fixture plate, but before doing that, let’s talk about whether it’s worth it.
You have to consider two things. First is the cost of the material is significant. Second is the accuracy is not that easy to attain, particularly for a plate that will be larger than the travels of your machine. Unless you’re an exceptional machinist, you probably won’t be able to build a plate larger than your machine’s travels that is also accurate enough.
When you keep all that in mind, the pricing on commercial fixture plates suddenly makes a lot more sense, but lets run through the exercise and understand a little about how to make one anyway. If nothing else, you may use some of these techniques to make sub-plates you’ll install on a commercial Fixture Plate you’ve purchased.
Material Costs
Let’s start out looking at material costs. Given the issues make a plate larger than my machine’s travels, I will be looking at dimensions of 34 x 12 x 3/4″. I will shoot for 4140 Pre-Hardened plate as well.
I came up with quotes that ranged from $739 to $837 for Hardened and Ground Plate. So my starting point is already not cheap. I can get 6061 aluminum for $433’ish, but we’ve talked about the issues with aluminum plates. If I’m going to all the trouble to make a Fixture Plate, I want it to last a long time.
Pso Point Of Free Material Slots Online
The Machining Process
I would start by machining some keyed dowel pins that can be used to key the plate to the T-Slots.
Note that I’ll need 2 sets of these keys:
- First set is extended reach. It has to reach past the 1-2-3 blocks that will hold the plate off the table while I am machining through holes.
- Second set is normal reach, and will be used once we’re done machining the plate supported on 1-2-3 blocks.
Making those keys is an easy job on a lathe.
I would also be very tempted to send the plate off to a shop to machine the edges square. Having gotten the plate back, it’s time to machine the holes for the keyed dowel pins. I’ve got a clamping challenge already because the Fixture Plate completely covers the table. I will use some big clamps that can reach under the table and set the plate on some 1-2-3 blocks so I can drill through holes.
Once clamped in place, the dowel pin holes are drilled undersized them reamed to size. Their position is not super-critical, but we should still spot drill and use screw machine-length twist drills.
Having done the dowel pin holes for the keys, we do the large through holes for the countersunk socket head cap screws that will hold the plate down with T-Slot Nuts. We’ll make these a touch oversized so we have plenty of clearance without disturbing the keys.
Once that’s done, I will unclamp the plate and install a set of keys, then re-clamp the plate so it is keyed to the table and secured with T-Slot Nuts.
Now the real fun begins. We have to drill about a zillion holes. We will do alternating threaded and smooth bores, all the holes get reamed in at least one if not two sizes, they all get chamfered, and they all get spot drilled. Plus, we need to position these holes as accurately as possible.
What that means is we need to program with exact stop g-codes and also program so we move far enough in the same direction that there is no possibility for backlash to interfere. Spot drilling, using screw machine-length twist drills, and reaming also helps.
Phew!
I don’t know about you, but that’s just a lot of work. If you enjoy it, great, go for it. But I can’t see you’re going to save an awful lot of money. And if you manage to screw up? Dang, that’s an expensive piece of work material to replace.
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