by Phil Kerner | Nov 29, 2018 | Fixture Building, Fixtures, Members Only: The Tool Room, Set-Ups, The Basics - Milling
Just a reminder: one of my main tasks at work is to "prove out" first-time jobs quickly. Once we get a handful of parts through the inspection department, it's usually time for me to move on. I have a lot of leeway in regards to how I approach a new project, but my...
by Phil Kerner | May 25, 2017 | Fixture Building, Fixtures, Members Only: The Tool Room, Real Manufacturing Experiences, Set-Ups, The Basics - Milling, The Basics - Workholding
As most of you who might find themselves in a manufacturing environment these days can attest to, there is a lot of chaos in the industry right now. Customers flipping orders from day to day, suppliers not delivering material on time, and the demands of running a...
by Phil Kerner | Jan 14, 2016 | Benchwork, Fixtures, Members Only: The Tool Room
One of my main responsibilites at work is to just "fix" things when nobody else knows what to do. Case-in-point: here's a few hundred parts that have just one feature slightly out of tolerance. The slot in the above photo has a tolerance of .315 / .316" wide, and it...
by Phil Kerner | Jul 20, 2015 | Fixtures, Members Only: The Tool Room, The Basics - Milling
When milling angles on block of material, you've got a lot of options. If you're just machining one part, any method you choose will probably be fine...sine plate, angled parallels, tip the head on a Bridgeport...you pick. But things change when you have several parts...
by Phil Kerner | Nov 2, 2014 | Fixture Building, Fixtures, Members Only: The Tool Room, Milling
Just this past week, I was handed 10 of these parts that needed the "teeth" milled into them. The center hole and the keyway were already machined, and the the location of the teeth are in relationship to the keyway. Here's a fixture I built in 10 minutes that got the...
by Phil Kerner | Jul 28, 2013 | Fixtures, Members Only: The Tool Room
Okay: I think you all know by now that besides building fixtures, I get handed a lot of "hot" or "critical" projects at work. They expect a lot from me, and I relish the challenge. Build one of these by noon, or ten of those by the end of the day. I write all of my...
