Dogbone Milling - A Great Way to Hold a Small Part

This video shows another technique for holding parts when they are too small to position and hold, or you have many to make and don't want to waste time. Take a look !

[@TheClassicEngineer]

Superb ingenious solution to an otherwise fiddly time consuming job. Love your video’s, no excess waffle, to the point and get on with the job in hand. Awesome, thanks for your time and effort making them!! Regards, Simon.

[@joepie221]

Thanks Simon. Fluff is for pillows.

[@TheClassicEngineer]

Joe Pieczynski 😂

[@jimsvideos7201]

I don't know if you teach or have in the past but you have a talent for it.

[@joepie221]

Thank you.

[@CyclesInc]

It's nice watching a true professional. There is a difference in your videos from others out there. Yours not only show how to get it done but also doing it in a timely matter. That’s the difference of being a pro or not. Low mistakes and low time makes a true pro.

[@joepie221]

Thank you. I hate mistakes. I made one once....I thought I was wrong, but I wasn't. Just kidding.

[@CyclesInc]

Besides being a true pro, your teaching technique is not too shabby either. Experience is the best teacher. You learn from mistakes and just finding better ways from existing knowledge.

[@milehidude]

That's great stuff Joe, really! I especially appreciate how you pointedly aim to help out us small shops, when you clearly don't need to. You are to be commended sir; Thank you!

[@joepie221]

Glad to do it. Thanks for watching.

[@garybrown5500]

Great insight into what goes into producing something that first appears very basic. Makes you realise there is a lot of preparation which has a cost of it's own.

[@ianpendlebury3704]

As always, interesting and instructive. Thanks for taking the time and effort to make these videos.

[@robinstokes5179]

Nice work as usual. Good to see the talk-through of your thought process. Apparently simple solutions to tricky problems still take a bit of thinking to get to! Thanks

[@jimmilne19]

Very creative, efficient and interesting techniques and jigs. Nice work. Impressed here.

[@tomdickie735]

Great video, can’t believe the negative comments!! I’m not a professional machinist but find all your videos well made and you describe things really well, I always learn something new from watching, I have looked for some videos from the guys who put up the negative comments but don’t see many! Real surprise!! Please continue with the great work👍👍

[@joepie221]

Thanks. My moves are usually very calculated for solid reasons. The guys that bash videos like this are from the shops I probably wouldn't want to get parts from. Its also amusing that all the 'Experts' channels are usually music or video game heavy.

[@josephcallan3430]

This bloke's unstoppable!!! Keep 'em coming.

[@craigs5212]

Nice video Joe, learn something every time I watch.

[@joepie221]

My next video is on exceptionally small hole drilling. You'll like that one. Stay tuned.

[@ronmcdavid7084]

very clever fixtures, the sure sign of a seasoned pro

[@joepie221]

I like tooling. It was a huge part of my apprenticeship.

[@01oldfart]

Holding things is always the challenge, very elegant solution and nicely done.

[@benkeller3]

As usual I learn something with every video ... Thanks Joe for what you do!

[@tomthumb3085]

As always, a perfect masterclass

[@armdaMan]

Another creative solution to a seemingly simple problem Like Your use of specific Jigs to hold these parts. Could well be applied by us in most Manual Machining projects. Great ideas here for similar jobs. Thanks as always Cap'n for showing and sharing ATB aRM

[@joepie221]

Machining philosophy applies to manual and CNC. Glad you feel the same way.

[@sccolbert]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Could you please make a video on how you price jobs, both for CNC and manual work? With all the time spent making fixtures for this job, I don't know how I could price it to make money and still be economical for the customer.

[@davemanley8700]

Fixtures can make or break a job and those look great, fixtures are everything. Nice job!

[@brskeel]

Thanks for taking the time to make these awesome videos, Joe! I'm a first year tool and die apprentice in Ohio and my journeyman pointed me to your channel. It has been really helpful to see your in depth explanations to machining processes and theories.

[@nogmeerjan]

Ending with "that's all I got". How humble. Thank you so much for sharing. I know you have lots more and looking forward to it :-)

[@lookcreations]

Nicely worked through Joe. Hope you have good storage for your fixtures -- you know the week after you ditch them the client will be back on for a follow up ;-) Thanks for sharing. Mat

[@roughrooster4750]

Excellent! Thanks, Joe. Another useful bag of tricks.

[@jcs6347]

Thanks Joe! I was wondering how you were going to trim them to consistent length - then realized 'how' when I saw the second fixture. Great example and demo, thanks again, Joe

[@RobB_VK6ES]

This is a good example to all those (and you seem to attract a reasonable number of them Joe) that think CNC machinists are not real machinists. I takes a real machinist to plan out a job so non machinist button pushers can take over, CNC or otherwise. Delusional, nostalgic or just trolling, I believe these people can't or won't distinguish the two scenarios CNC machines can be employed. Banks of machines lined up making thousands of the same parts run by semi skilled operator and managed by a skilled tool setter. Then there is the job shop constantly changing jobs with limited or singular production frequently with features that are difficult or impossible by manual means. These machines are usually completely run by skilled machinists and any machinist with real skin in the game will acknowledge this even if the skill sets are different.

[@joepie221]

Well put. I agree.

[@VolkCNC]

I wanted to thank you for sharing. It's pretty easy to learn machining but it's not always easy to learn a lot of these techniques of work holding.

[@hdheuejhzbsnnaj]

These production job shop tips are super helpful. Thanks, Joe.

[@jeffryblackmon4846]

i like your thinking, planning and execution.

[@joepie221]

Thank you. This worked like a charm.

[@tnekkc]

Great content presented in great form. Joe is inspiring.

[@bradyoung6663]

I love fixture work for production. We always mad 2 identical fixtures so we could load one while the other was running. But, that was for 1000's of parts per order. Man, I'd give my right pinky and ring finger for a Bridgeport with a prototrak controller on it. I know there's better heads out there, but you know. Nostalgia.

[@RGSABloke]

Hi Joe, this is where divergent thinking wins the day. An awesome result, but I disagree when you said a few thousand, how about 10,000, now that's what I call super cool.😂😂😂😂😂. Many thanks for sharing you knowledge and skills. Kindest regards. Joe.

[@joepie221]

At 10,000 pieces, that strip would have been 40" long.

[@ellieprice3396]

Beautiful work as always. Love the fixture designs.

[@joepie221]

I enjoy that part too. Its always better when they perform as intended.

[@bvbatcu1650]

27 seconds to finish the part, 35 seconds to admire your work. :-)

[@garywemmer9342]

The master of the milled/ turned material ,strikes again!!!!

[@joepie221]

Its good to have knowledge of the material properties to have good results.

[@bikefarmtaiwan1800]

No two ways about it Joe- you really have mastered the art!

[@pacmag951]

Awesome, Great stuff..... your video (second fixture) gave me the best solution for a gang of small alum. parts I am doing. Thank You JP

[@joepie221]

Glad it helped!

[@DudleyToolwright]

Another amazing video. Extremely informative as always. Fixturing is an Art and Science in and of itself and you seem to really have a knack, Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@MR6.5]

Another great video! Thanks for sharing this technique with us.

[@ControlledWrinkles]

I love all of your work-holding tips, thanks for all the help you provide

[@joepie221]

Glad to do it.

[@michaelcoceski5442]

You have a very intelligent approach Joe, big credit to you for sharing, just subscribed. One of the best channels on youtube, my friend.

[@joepie221]

Thank you very much. I am enjoying the effort.

[@Toolman22364]

Makes me proud to be Polish . Keep up the great work .

[@joepie221]

Thank you.

[@Capnmax]

"No brainer little fixture"...

[@billrichardson4873]

Great video Joe, thanks for sharing!

[@iDiveDOTtv]

Great work Joe. Delrin is the bane of my life as I'm starting out building dive gear for a living. Easy to cut but an absulute bitch to hold, especially if you're cutting large thin pieces. Every day's a school day though and I'm learning today.

[@Sembazuru]

I know my observation is a silly little thing, but I liked on the band-saw how you used the off-cut dog-bone riser as a pusher stick at the end of the cutting operation.

[@joepie221]

Waste not, want not. Good catch.

[@JBFromOZ]

Thanks for sharing Joe! great solution mate

[@kevinkillsit]

That was excellent. Thank you for the thorough walkthrough.

[@joepie221]

This was a good job. I hope it repeats.

[@VictorHernandez-nt3tw]

Never seen this technique before. Thanks Joe for your time and techniques

[@rdspeedfab]

I always learn something watching you videos, Joe! Thanks for posting.

[@joepie221]

Thanks for watching.

[@randallshular5362]

Awesome fixture engineering.

[@t.j.mackiewicz8944]

I've been cutting alot of delron for DRS lately, holding +-.0005 on most of their parts. I always us my reminder saying, "very lightly clamp your part, if you think your vise jaws are to tight loosen them a bit", that delron cuts like butter and will hold under minimal pressure. I will be using your drill, band saw, and softjaw setup for a similar part, thanks for the video! I have all sorts of delron setups i like using!

[@joepie221]

This is great material, but does have surface tension in sheet form. Single sided operations can be tricky.

[@jamesg8246]

Joe Pieczynski Yeah don't start with sheet, quote based on using large oversized stock and mill symmetrical to size. I have done a lot of Delrin machining. I have ground Delrin to ten thousandths of an inch. It's very versatile and a great option.

[@matthewblackwood4704]

You haven't cut any delron. It's Delrin

[@jamesg8246]

T.J. Mackiewicz You can also surface grind Delrin. Some thin double sided tape and an open dressed 32 or 46 wheel and light passes. I've ground it to within .0002" tolerance.

[@t.j.mackiewicz8944]

James G yea ive since switched techniques to double side tape!

[@anarcowhatever]

That was great, Joe! Planning ahead every detail of those fixtures so the actual cutting was done quickly and, most important, ensuring the quality of the final product, really shows how professional you and your team are. I worked at a company that made dies for aluminium extrusion, that was 99% of their work and they had the production process very well optimized, wire EDM, big horizontal machining centers and all that stuff, but for the occasional 100 part job, they didn't even had a decent set of parallels. It was a struggle, with every part taken out of the vise 3 or 4 times, chatter, vise jaw lift...The parts came back from the customer more often than not.

[@joepie221]

Thank you. Rejects and returns are not OK around here. I take the quality of my work very personally as it reflects directly on my ability and skill. I like jobs like this. They make ya think.

[@Hunter333444]

Nice job ,nice fixtures for the job. Thanks for sharing

[@paultavres9830]

Having spent 37 years as a heavy duty mechanic in a high production dealership clean up time is as valuable as the job its self I see a lot of people using compressed air to blow off their parts where debris goes everywhere I always liked using my compressed air vacuum to control cleanliness inside of engines so why not retrieve chips during machining process and eliminate any additional time cleaning up the machines Time is money unless you like doing it for fun

[@thisissoeasy]

Absolutely ingenious! It was truly refreshing to see somebody go through the effort of creating clever jigs etc., to guarantee a high-quality (and repeatable) end product, where the majority would most likely have taken a quick, cheap and easy way, without further thoughts... After an evaluation period, I have now subscribed to your channel... Would have been stupid not to! Thanks for sharing your considerable knowledge. With cheers from Outback Australia, Rolf

[@joepie221]

Thanks for the comments and your subscription. I have many subscribers from Australia. You are in good company.

[@nevetslleksah]

Nice work. I am just running a manual Bridgeport mill doing job shop type work and I probably would not quote that job with my setup. Thanks for making the video.

[@poetac15]

Very helpful video. Much appreciated!

[@donziperk]

That was great Joe. Although not exactly the problem I was having with a project it helped me think out side the box and come up with a solution. Thank you.

[@joepie221]

Great to hear!

[@sferg9582]

love working with Delrin and Celcon. I wish everything was as nice as that stuff.

[@joepie221]

My favorite material. It does have a grain structure though and will warp terribly if not handled right.

[@Tensioner]

+1 I make all sorts of things out of it and haven't been disappointed yet. My only problem is other people want me to make things out of it that just won't work. lol

[@eltigre6446]

Really this video blew my mind how simple and efficient it is

[@joepie221]

Thanks. Its a good approach for smaller parts. The material wasted is more than made up for in time saved.

[@ypaulbrown]

Thanks Joe

[@jackfrost2146]

@@joepie221 The material is not "wasted". It's "utilized" to make the job more efficient!

[@tjnak]

Another fine Manual or CNC KISS tip. Thanks Joe.

[@mechmotion]

I will keep this technique in mind for the next time something like this comes up. Thanks!

[@BluesDoctor]

Great job highlighting fixturing! I am not sure if I would have thought about the drawer slide feature but that saved mount and demount time. The vice like clamp I would think will have future fixturing utility. Itself would be an interesting project to have some video. I would have been inclined to make it from steel for double duty for similar small parts use on a surface grinder. Not a criticism. We called that sort of fixturing "ganged" fixtures. Pallets are a hot topic these days, this is going to give me some food for thought before I build one. As always a well thought out job and a pleasure to watch Joe Pie make a piece-of-cake, lol... Happy Turkey Day to you and yours.

[@joepie221]

Thank you very much. Same to you and your's.

[@Tryin2FlyII]

Great video well thought holding fixtures the parts turned out PERFECT!

[@Robonthemoor]

Easy peasy if your Joe Pie” truly professional, thanks joe more please simply the best.

[@joepie221]

Watch the micro drilling video coming right up.

[@justindawson3634]

Another great technique. Thanks for sharing!

[@joepie221]

Thanks for watching

[@smallcnclathes]

That was impressive too (came here from the grip stock video). Might I say, I read some of the comments further down, they were really not nice and certainly not deserved. You handled them with as much skill as you create your videos and dealt with your critics beautifully. I will remember that as much as I will try to remember the video.

[@joepie221]

Thanks for the comment. Being diplomatic isn't always easy, but sometimes it can open eyes better than a blast. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. When it gets personal, thats when I end it.

[@smallcnclathes]

Joe Pieczynski I just hope I can handle it so well if I cop that sort of comment. So far I have been lucky, having a very small channel probably helps too.

[@patrickroeill8746]

precision and production nice to watch you work Joe

[@davidvigneux6929]

I always get a kick our of trying to read the doodles on the whiteboard... You can tell there's nice camaradery in your shop. I love it!

[@tombellus8986]

Great job holding those small parts and milling the ends ------ thanks for sharing

[@travisaspin]

Awesome work Joe!

[@joepie221]

Thank you for the comment and your sub. Much appreciated.

[@MrJackandEmily]

I'm sure this would be the fastest and most accurate way to do this even without the cnc mill.. Thanks Joe, always learning! 😁

[@onlooker251]

Joe - I think you a genius! 🇬🇧🇺🇸

[@joepie221]

Thank you.

[@patrickbradford6223]

Awesome workholding video! I would love to see more!

[@Hix066]

Brilliant insight Joe. Great informative vids. Cheers from the UK 🤘

[@ChunkyMonkaayyy]

Great solution to a fun puzzle of a job.

[@johnwahalla5049]

Great video Joe, thank you again.

[@richardcranium5839]

sweet setup there. im guessing these are for a proof of concept mockup. easier and cheaper to do than build a mold to find a part that wont work. but as long as ya get paid who cares. i enjoy watching and learning.

[@daveticehurst4191]

Joe, before you ever accept the job, do you ever ask if there will be repeat orders, assuming they like your work ? That was a hell of a lot of fixture making time and materials. I have no CNC experiance, but I certainly would not have taken this job on for just 100 parts. You probably spent more time making the fixtures than it took to make the parts. Looked a good job as always though. Well done. Now off topic I know, did you ever get your gun part Anodized ?

[@newtsfarm]

Those were my thoughts exactly.

[@horseshoe_nc]

That does seem like a lot of fixture time, for 1 order of 100 small parts. Most likely a long time customer and a new part. Joe is probably expecting future orders of that part.

[@pierresgarage2687]

If he does only one run of those, the customer must be ready to pay a pretty heavy setup fee, if there are repeats then, the cost gets amortized as he has more parts done... ;) Aluminum and mostly Delrin aren't cheap...!!!

[@joepie221]

When I get a job like this, I stand back and think.....I can struggle with 100 parts one at a time and consume a bunch of hours, or spend my time making a fixture I may use again and fly through the parts in the same amount of total time. I usually go with the fixture for part consistency and future profitability. The AR lowers did get anodized and I will show the results. The clear came out a very unique color.

[@lvengineerable]

Great video. Thanks for sharing!

[@copasetic216]

Thank you for this. Always appreciated

[@EmmaRitson]

as always, ive learnt a lot

[@joepie221]

Thanks. Its a good technique.

[@rodschweiger4195]

As always, very cool! Thanks Joe.

[@mikemoore9757]

Save those fixtures and the video and hope the customer comes back in a couple of months and say's he needs 5000 parts. You will make money a like a casino! Good job sir!

[@joepie221]

I certainly hope so.

[@jamesgilpin786]

Fantastic video, Thanks for taking the time to do the video i will definitely try this method. Keep up the great work.

[@joepie221]

Thank you.

[@iancrossley6637]

Just had to make hold downs for a 10' sheet of anodized aluminum plate for my cnc router. I made the hold down blocks out of black delrin and they worked great. I flexed them a bit for the 80 parts I made and they kept their resilance til the end. Keep those drop off's from the band saw, they can come in handy.

[@joepie221]

I have a whole box. You never know when they may come in handy.

[@cmguitar50]

I like this kind of stuff. And the fixtures - whew! Looks like it could be a deal breaker if not well planned..

[@Bigwingrider1800]

Nice job Joe. i did a job typical. but 5 at a time they were end caps for extruded alu.. 2 setups and i made a fixture to cut them off on the table saw finished. helped pay for the tormach then the haas mini. great job..

[@joepie221]

I'm about to post a video on something I call flip flop milling. check it out when it posts. I think you'll like it.

[@tj9382]

Hey man great video, I love a bit of creative fixturing. I am a big fan of the incremental move using a loop too, you can produce some very economical programs from this method. Plus, if you need to make changes you don’t need to go trawling through lines and lines of code. 👍

[@kentuckytrapper780]

Very interesting setup joe, thanks.

[@GnosisMan50]

Would you say that the fixtures you made took more time and labor than the parts themselves? And is that time included when you quote the price to make these parts? Just asking..

[@parnellpollioni]

Thanks for the tip yesterday on not knocking down the first opp.

[@joepie221]

Thats very important in getting a part flat.. You're welcome.

[@parnellpollioni]

We all appreciate the time and effort you put into these videos.

[@EarthSurferUSA]

He mentioned "repeat jobs", and the more the merrier, if your going to make a group fixture.

[@dennyskerb4992]

Hey Joe, just for the hell of it. Tell us how many fixtures you made & collected over the years. Now, that make a great video. As always, Great Video.

[@joepie221]

Holy cow, how much time ya got.

[@michaelm2716]

Nice work Joe, I’d be happy if I could machine the jigs let alone the parts, thanks for posting

[@joepie221]

Thank you.

[@thatoldbob7956]

Considering the jigs you had to make each final piece had to pay you really well

[@curtisvonepp9716]

I enjoy all the Joe Pieczyskis out their learning a bag of trick's from them hope I can remember them🙌🔔🔔🔔.

[@ilovewood79]

Very nice video. Great idea. Enjoyed watching this.

[@joepie221]

Fun job. I enjoyed it as well.

[@mrmichael555]

Outstanding fixturing!

[@TheEpistemicOne]

Really slick way to get those done!

[@MrRctintin]

Great vid, and thanks for using metric measurements for all of us European viewers 😁

[@geoffgwyther7269]

not all Europeans... still a hell of a lot of Brits like myself, like to work in ``thous`` could be of course that most Brits don`t consider themselves ``Europeans``

[@MrRctintin]

Haha, very politically correct, I’m defo English, not European, but.... I was bought up using metric measurements, so that’s the first way I measure, rather than converting into imperial measurements.