Thursday, November 30, 2017

Learn from my mistake, or why you should model your fixturing

Why you should include your fixturing in your model before CNC programming

I know, sometimes you're in a hurry, and you don't want to spend the time to import and model your vise, clamps, bolts, or other fixturing into your model before programming CNC cutterpaths.

But, how will you know whether your cutterpaths are completely safe without doing so? 

Well, we were in a hurry to start milling for our martial arts practice knife project. Even though we thought we had a high enough clearance plane set, turns out the washer made it just high enough to cause a problem. 

See in our video below:



Moral of the story is to include your fixturing into your model. 

Need to add basic components within Fusion 360? It easy to do, just use the included McMaster-Carr catalog, sort through the catalog to find your component, click the part number then the little "CAD" button. This will allow you to insert your component directly into your active model.



Save your tooling, don't let this happen to you.