OK, I have designed parts for the Space Station and other critical applications and generally I have passed on my parts to a stress engineer and they will come back and tell me that during machining no more than XXX in pounds of force can be used to hold the parts during machining. The reasons are varied, but this weekend I can kick myself for not checking this first.
I made some parts which I was hoping would eliminate some vibration in the final application. I machined all 5 parts out and then flipped the parts one by one into my vise to machine the back side off. There was a little bit of chatter as the parts were about 2IN long and maybe .5IN wide and could only be held on the ends... Result was I clamped a couple too tight and they bowed slightly leaving a concave (is that right) surface once the tension was released.
Needless to say I can't drill the secondary ops holes in the sides as they are now too close to the material edge.
Darn it! How do you hold small parts securely for secondary operations? If I used a soft jaw I could grab more surface area but still too much force would bow the parts. really no effect way to bolt the parts down, there are no through holes except for a bearing hole on one end.
I made some parts which I was hoping would eliminate some vibration in the final application. I machined all 5 parts out and then flipped the parts one by one into my vise to machine the back side off. There was a little bit of chatter as the parts were about 2IN long and maybe .5IN wide and could only be held on the ends... Result was I clamped a couple too tight and they bowed slightly leaving a concave (is that right) surface once the tension was released.
Needless to say I can't drill the secondary ops holes in the sides as they are now too close to the material edge.
Darn it! How do you hold small parts securely for secondary operations? If I used a soft jaw I could grab more surface area but still too much force would bow the parts. really no effect way to bolt the parts down, there are no through holes except for a bearing hole on one end.