How To CNC Mill Soft Jaws with Fusion 360

This video shows how I set up the CAM in Fusion 360 to CNC mill custom soft jaws. In a previous video, I made the motor clamp for the toolpost grinder. I received a question in the comments about the CAM setup, so here it is.
Previous videos...
- Making the soft jaws: • Making Soft Jaws for t...
- Milling the soft jaws to hold the motor clamp:
• Making a Toolpost Grin...
The entire toolpost grinder build series is here: • Making a Toolpost Grinder

[@daniels4338]

Hats off to the most satisfying keyboard and mouse sound on KZbin

[@christopherbarr6596]

I’m running my second job based on this video. Thank you for the great description and detail.

[@igorozegovic9977]

I have seen many vidos on soft jaws...You nailed it!! Thanks man

[@twobob]

Yep. Very nice work. Also the finish was lovely on that clamp.

[@elijahcbr6009]

Dude thanks so much for showing the setup and how to do the stock. 👍🤘

[@alanwood3597]

Thanks for this James, especially the bit where you have to reproduce the jaws to be able to make the profile cut as I kept going round in circles trying to work on the jaw model. I have just run a job making a set of clock pallets. These were made from 10mm ground flat steel stock and after top side op I needed to deck off 2mm from the reverse side. I had the idea to make the soft jaws in PLA rather than aluminium as per normal. Saved me material and time to print them and they job held in place while the 2mm came off. I didn't push DOC beyond 0.5mm. Providing the soft jaws are just to allow decking off the first op gripping material and there are no other features to machine then this looks like a useful tool in the armoury.

[@bryan19966]

Awesome video. The channel really should have more subscribers. Thanks for the info.

[@Clough42]

Thanks! I couldn't agree more. :)

[@stevensimpson6208]

Great video. I'm new to CNC milling and it's a totally different world compared to a router table. Thank you

[@bostondan77]

Awesome video, very well explained and clear, concise. Thank you!

[@RyanFuckingCameron]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@DuckyRC]

Very helpful, thanks man!

[@Clough42]

Many thanks to bostondan77 for the question that led to this video! If you have a question, post it in the comments.

[@just.wandering5192]

when milling the soft jaws, would you just stack a spacer between the jaws?

[@MichaelLloyd]

Your channel should have 100 times more subscribers. I've dabbled with Fusion 360 but with no way to actually try a design I haven't put much effort into learning it. It's great software though. Per your comment below, designing in any craft is the "hard part" but it's also the most satisfying imho

[@Clough42]

I couldn't agree more. You have my permission to tell all your friends! :) I also agree with your comment on the satisfaction that comes from designing things. 3D printers haven't really gone mainstream the way many people thought they would, and I think this is the barrier--particularly designing around the limitations of the FDM process. But if you have the skill set, there's nothing quite like being able to go from an idea to an object in your hand with 30 minutes of effort and a couple of hours of printing while you do something else.

[@hillfortherstudios2757]

You can "break link" rather than making a new component if you so chose to.

[@terrellbradshaw3504]

I hope he learned that feature by now.

[@Ale_Lab]

Great tutorial. You porbably know it now. But inside the new project you can just break the link of the components and then you can modify it without affect the original project where you grab it. Just right click on the bound component in the project and click break link.

[@billkellogg1403]

Also, instead of sketching the motor clamp profile, you can use the Combine command using the jaws as the body and the motor clamp as the tool. Bam!

[@Clough42]

I actually tried that first, but it left material behind in the open cavity inside the clamp. That could also be dealt with, of course, but it would add steps in the model history that could break when changing dimensions in the future. I was also worried that I would have to adjust the offset from the part to get a good fit. There are lots of good ways to do this.

[@camcompco]

first off, great video, great technique, really like the way you tied things together so efficiently. quick question, why did you leave 20 thou radial stock (11 min marker), also, wouldn't it be easier to push the 2 jaws together prior to milling as then you don't have to deal with keeping them a certain (1.25") distance apart with some other jig, my Kurt vise would move during milling if the jaws were not clamped together thanks much John

[@Clough42]

Thanks. I'm glad you found it useful. Adaptive Clearing is a roughing strategy. It moves aggressively in and out of the cut to keep the tool loaded, and as a result, it leaves a rough side wall. I left .020" on the side walls and then came back with the second operation (2D Contour) to remove the last .020" and leave a smooth surface. The reason I left the jaws 1.25" apart is because the part I need to hold in the jaws is that wide. I guess technically I could have squeezed them together and milled them that way to fit a larger part when further apart, but milling them apart is easier. When milling, I clamped them down on a 1.25" parallel (positioned below the cut) so the vise would be under normal clamping tension. Here's the setup for milling: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipCzo3eupKZgp9E

[@camcompco]

ok, thanks. I was not sure if you left any material on purpose to hold the part. Good technique on the milling of the jaws

[@silencer3kmg]

@@Clough42 On this, first off great vid very clear and easy to follow, but you removed the .020 stock from the walls but it also removes .020 stock from part of the flat surface but not 'all' of the flat surface meaning you are going to have .020 high spots. I noticed this in my cam while following your vid and I'm having trouble figuring out how to correct that or if I should even worry about it. I know it's just .020 but that a pretty high tolerance loss. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[@Clough42]

@@silencer3kmg If you're referring to the adaptive clearing step prior to the contour (at 10:58 in the video) you can see that I left 0.02" radial stock to leave, which is on the side of the end mill, but 0.00" axial stock to leave, which would be on the floor of the pocket. So the end mill will cut all the way down to the floor of the pocket, and the contour step can clean up just the side. I didn't mention the axial setting and I went by it pretty fast, but it's visible in the video. If you set .020" axial stock to leave, you will get the high spots, just like you mention.

[@silencer3kmg]

@@Clough42 thanks for the info. Just noticed the reply. Definitely clears up what I was curious about. Adjusted my axial to 0 as well now and it's clean.

[@jakemasheck5005]

Thank you for the information that you continue to share! One question. Why do you run at 2100rpm and not at the mills max 2250rpm? Thank you!

[@Clough42]

I program the GCODE assuming 2100 and then run the mill flat out at max RPM because sometimes this ends up being a little under 2200 when the bearings are cold. This is just to be sure I don't take an unexpectedly large chipload, slowing down the spindle further, increasing the chipload further and breaking the cutter.

[@baileeperkins839]

I am making my first set of jaws. I have went back and forth from this video several times. I am trying to switch over to CAM to mill out the pocket. I have hidden my part but when I switch over my part is in the Jaws and I can not see the pocket I have made. When I go back to design the pocket for my part is there. Help please!

[@baileeperkins839]

! figured it out!

[@floridasaltlife]

I wish I could go to a cad school and just spend a month or so, getting down the basics, I work at teaching myself with help from online sources but get stuck and aggravated and give up.

[@Clough42]

Designing things is hard. I think this is one of the major reasons why 3D printing at home hasn't taken off more than it has. Fusion 360 is making this better, just because it's accessible, but regardless of the tools, it's still an acquired skill. This is especially true once you add in the complexity of designing for a particular process like 3D printing or CNC machining. If you have questions or ideas for topics you'd like to see covered, let me know. I'm always looking for future video ideas.

[@floridasaltlife]

I am working on a 5 to 6 speed conversion on a small dualsport motorcycle transmission and need a .060 snap ring groove ground in the O.D. of a transmission shaft that is very hard. Your grinder build is perfect for this kind of a small job when conventional lathe tooling is not capable. Do you have grinding wheel dressing tools for something like this, would love to see how this process works. That is what drew me to you build originally and I ended up spending 6 hours last night watching your videos, then downloading fusion 360 and following a tutorial and designing my first part. Your work was impactful to say the least.

[@Clough42]

Thank you. As far as the snap ring groove, that's pretty narrow to try to grind. I will be making a dresser for the grinder, but I'm not sure I would try dressing a wheel that narrow. It might be possible to use a cut-off wheel in the grinder to do that. You might even be able to accomplish that with an air cutoff tool or a dremel with a cutoff wheel clamped to the toolpost. I spoke with a professional machinist once (I'm not one) about cutting snap ring grooves, and he said they use ThinBit carbide tools on the lathe.

[@floridasaltlife]

Clough42 the tool shop I use said that is ho