Machine Shop Fixturing & Workholding: Soft Jaws

[@artmckay6704]

Thank you for donating the extra work to do these videos! It is all much appreciated! I hope you're happy and your shop is busy, always! :)

[@Roetz40]

What a coincidence. Just today I machined some soft jaws for multiple round workpieces. I was using aluminum tig rod to compensate for slight diameter differences! Great video :)

[@stick004]

Johnny 5! Johnny 5! Johnny 5! Request 3 in a row for Johnny 5 update.

[@miestermind]

Thank you for these excellent highlights. great ideas come to mind and they are just enough info to lead me into deeper dives. thank you for all that you do.

[@Rx7man]

I once had to mill out a 1 3/8" wide x 1 1/2" deep slot into some 2x2x4" cold rolled square stock.. I didn't want to do them one at a time though, so I faced both ends of the part, set the par on some short parallels, and then had a piece of 1/2" x 2" UHMW nylon on my movable jaw and a clamp holding 3 pieces together so they couldn't move apart, it worked really well on a manual mill with power feeds, I was making the same parts about 3x faster than my co workers, I really spent a lot of time figuring out the best toolpath and pushing the mill and cutter to the limit.. 3/4" roughing mill, 330 RPM, 1/2" DOC per pass, then widen to spec in one shot, if you pay attention to which way the tool will deflect on the last pass you can clean up the entire side just from tool deflection.. These weren't high accuracy parts ( +/- 0.030") so no trouble hitting that

[@jackroman8821]

You know... this is a great video. Thank you for making it.

[@piccilos]

I like this review series, good refresher or incase someone is new and missed anything

[@GrumpyMachinist]

Widget #78: Buy swiss lathe. On jobs where I'm running more than 1 piece in a vise I loosen the moveable jaw or the set screw at the back of it. Also on vise work where I have a round contour I drill and bore through spacers, which is way quicker than 3d milling.

[@homemadetools]

Nice job. We featured this video in our homemade tools forum this week :)

[@azenginerd9498]

Because soft jaws tend to multiply like gremlins, I assigned a part number to each and engraved that into the jaw(s). That way next year when you get a repeat job, you can find exactly which set go with the work. Additionally, I would engrave arrows or other other indicators showing what origin the CAM/G-Code was expecting. Very little additional work when you are making the jaws. HUGE time / error / frustration saving the next time they get used.

[@capnthepeafarmer]

What's your recommendation for the Fusion work flow on softjaws? I add a new part in the part file and use the boolean command to remove the the parts of the jaws I don't need. I figure there has got to be a slick way of templating that operation.

[@MrPlumberguy23]

We still looking for Johnny #5? his battery may be dead

[@scruffy3121]

If you machine the second soft jaw to act like a flexture in the contact points it should also compensate for slight inaccuracies. (I know this video is old)

[@poetac15]

Do you happen to know where I can find more info or examples of that? It makes sense but I’m curious how it’s typically done.

[@Shard18]

weres Johnny 5? its been 10 months

[@steinarne79]

....But I saw this yesterday....;) Wonder how....

[@steinarne79]

@Julie SMW how can a video...be set in a...list....without..being...listed....hmmm...

[@ash_deol]

Nice

[@HuskyMachining]

damn, I must be cheap as I get every plugged nickle from the softjaws I make.... I think I usually get 6-7 parts out of a pair before I consider scrapping them

[@pasipuurunen8748]

I don't understand why to buy ready made soft jaws for one offs or small batches... I worked in company where we made our soft jaws from regular stock and machined only screw holes. And it worked perfectly. Maybe ready made soft jaws can be justified if you have regular order of parts...

[@sammmycheez99]

I buy double sided soft jaws for $18/set. At shop rate plus material, it'd cost me more to make my own

[@legionjames1822]

A lot of work holding is going to 3d printing. Obviously consumer grade 3d printers are not going to cut it because they print soft or breakable materials. But the markforged units work WONDERFULLY. Or anything that prints a continuous fiber rienforcedrced nylon material

[@dennyskerb4992]

👍👍

[@erictrexler3042]

What kind of video camera do you guys use to create these?

[@santee6399]

The threaded pin job would've always worked with your original design holding 3 parts instead of 10

[@ronwhittaker6317]

3 M putts out excellent products 3:20

[@ThePreyMantas]

Where did the guy go who had black hair but looks like you??? ;)

[@Necrodoxious]

Lol, very machinist style.

[@par4par72]

Showing a bit more grey these days hey John? ..work, politics or wife?

[@sleddarcheddar]

So did you get out of job shop stuff because fusion basically would never let you do almost any customer parts? I used it for years. Now using mastercam. I'll tell you one thing. Mastercam is fucking clunky as all shit. I miss the workflow with fusion and history tree. I also see no benefit with mastercam in terms of toolpathing parts.