Pit Bull Style Fixture Clamps - Part 1 - The Clamps

[@GreenShortzDIY]

With you, Greg...nothing seems impossible. Lol. The Tormach looks like an amazing tool for creating amazing stuff. The concept of the bulldog clamps is super cool. I’ve been making fixtures for some CNC projects. I always keep my hand on the escape key as well. On to part 2!

[@jonahguitarguy]

Greg, I'm impressed with your rocket scientist knowledge of that massive machine. A couple things have kept me from delving into CNC, money and fear. So thanks for this.

[@GregsGarage]

LOL! I am but a mere neophyte with CNC. I would tell you on the wood side of CNC, there are a lot of user-friendly tools out there that make the learning curve small. Once you get in the groove and understand out to hold and process a part, then you can take it in any direction without too much effort... However, the financial investment can be daunting. Thankfully, I had a number of products/designs/inventions lined up for production, so it was easy to justify the cost.

[@billstrahan4791]

The first set of clamps I made (“Pitbills” lol) I left off the bottom relief and found out the reason it was in the pitbulls was for the bottom o-ring to lift and rock the clamp away from the part. I incorporated a similar angled relief and it became much easier to get parts in and out. Good stuff and thanks for sharing your work!

[@GregsGarage]

I have a plan to incorporate the o-ring, but I'm not sure if it will work yet. I didn't realize the "real" ones had a relief to accommodate it.

[@billstrahan4791]

@@GregsGarage Yes, there is a relief on the bottom for two reasons: First, it allows the clamp to bottom out without squishing and destroying the o-ring. Second, the relief is not parallel to the bottom surface, it is inclined so that the o-ring is flat in the relief when the clamp is retracted. The o-ring is tight enough on the screw that it lifts the clamp up and tilts it open to insert parts. This is critical in situations where you are trying to put in a single part that has to be held with multiple clamps since it holds them all open. Hope that helps.

[@GregsGarage]

@@billstrahan4791 That does help. Thanks! I think I can put that relief in while the blank is still square. Good news tho... We only have 1 clamp per part, so hopefully it will go smoothly even if we have to "help" the clamp get out of the way.

[@TheWreckingYard]

Good stuff Greg, that first cut with any CNC program is scary

[@wildeyednorthernboy]

LOL at 3;22 i see a 1970s craftsman tool box. u got some KILLER tools these days grey...GOOD FOR U SIR

[@CNC_ekat]

Hello, do you have a drawing of the part in millimeters? Pit bull clamps. I would be very grateful for that.

[@AlexFuniciello]

Greg, Since you need a bunch of these would it make sense to cut the profile in a bar? Since the sides are not critical you could band saw them to width once you have the profile cut. You'd need to set the work on an angle to face the bar to the needed geometry.

[@GregsGarage]

I thought about that. I want to profile that makes contact with the pocket (the curve in the clamp) to be cut by a vertical mill so its as smooth as I can make it... But you're right, the sides don't matter at all, so if I can sort out a way to do that, it would be much more efficient.

[@AlexFuniciello]

@@GregsGarage Ah, that makes sense. Fixturing would be challenging to side mill it.

[@turbocobra]

Nice sir! got to love that chip welding on the aluminum drills

[@GregsGarage]

Man... I need to get the flood coolant going. Hopefully that will help... Luckily, I don't do production runs, just the prototypes, so it's easy to keep an eye on it.

[@harrelsontrumpets]

We've done something similar, but rather than making different sized pitbull clamps, we have simply added a shim to make up the difference in stock size.

[@falconmotorsports8323]

That ceramic probe you have. Last week I went to load my haimer in my machine and the taper seating popped the head right off the probe lol 60 bucks gone 🤦‍♂️

[@GregsGarage]

Those Heimers are the fastest way to spend $$$! LOL

[@Tchefter]

Great Job Greg! Looking forward for the other Parts! Thanks for showing, regards and all the best for '21, Fritz

[@GregsGarage]

Thanks Fritz!

[@GotItMade]

Wow, your skills come a long way in a short amount of time. Very impressed Greg! But it is still scary every time I watch you hit the big green button. :-)

[@GregsGarage]

Thanks Fred. There's nothing scarier than a 2" tool heading toward a vice at full speed. It keeps me cautiously on my toes!

[@JerrysThisandThat]

Got that Tormach running smooth there Greg. Sorry I missed the notification that you have new videos up... KZbin :/

[@Buckswoodshop]

Always need more clamps (even those type)!! 👍👍

[@GregsGarage]

You just can't get enough of them!

[@RustyGlovebox]

Very impressive work

[@GregsGarage]

Thank you sir!

[@jwhrivnak]

Nice work Greg

[@GregsGarage]

Thank you sir! When do we get an update on the Ghia???

[@robevans8555]

That was a great video, nice and clearly explained as you went along, thanks for sharing

[@GregsGarage]

Thanks Rob!

[@seuba1997]

Nice! Can you share CAD files?

[@Tanoble69]

Awesome Greg

[@MrRoach-yo3mz]

*Fun To Watch*

[@GregsGarage]

Thanks Mr. Roach! All this is leading up to some cool stuff that's in the works.

[@ziggassedup]

Nice mate.

[@GregsGarage]

Thanks Ziggy! Happy New Year Brother!

[@ziggassedup]

@@GregsGarage Happy New Year back at ya Greg.

[@MrFireman164]

Very cool

[@GregsGarage]

Thanks!

[@Ale_Lab]

Love the content! New subscriber. Just my 2 cents. Do not keep the Haimer probe in the ATC. It's a precision tool that you better keep it clean and outside the machine.

[@GregsGarage]

Thanks for the comment! I can appreciate the advice to keep the haimer outside the machine... BUT... It doesn't get a ton of use and since I'm not using flood coolant, it has a pretty cushy life, even inside the machine... If I used it every day, I would def have a different situation. I have broken tools because I did not properly set the machine back from the ATC tool to the Haimer... The cost of those tools would easily pay for a new Haimer, so I have to balance that as well... If I ran 500 parts on one setup, it would be a completely different situation.

[@Ale_Lab]

@@GregsGarage SUre, as I said thst's just something I would do, but it will work both ways.

[@wildeyednorthernboy]

your a man of many skills,i surly dont have...i cant edit a video any more LOL

[@GregsGarage]

You have many talents too! Your skills in the paint and body shop eclipse what I can do, that's for sure. The old craftsman box belonged to my wife's grandfather. He was a machinist for TWA. Have you seen Wray Schelin's KZbin channel? He is a world class coach builder and he's putting up incredible videos on panel forming.

[@wildeyednorthernboy]

@@GregsGarage i could tell it was a machinist box,cuz the drawls r shallower then most tool boxes

[@gardeningklp]

Do you have any prints you can send me on the Pitbull Clamps ?

[@GregsGarage]

I don't have any prints. I just started with the drawing they have on their website, then modified it in fusion to have a tall contact face and then adjusted for the 3 lengths I need.

[@billstrahan4791]

As I watch your video again, I realize I don't understand your need for different sizes. Are you planning to remove the clamps and put in the larger clamps after each op? If so, that sounds really slow and tedious assuming you have a way to swap entire pallets. If you don't have a pallet system, you might consider making one for this. My son splurged and got a Pierson Pallet system and I followed in the path he blazed. Man, was that eye opening. Like totally changed the way I think about this stuff. But even if you don't want to splurge quite that much, you might make a single fixture plate that holds all 3 ops. Then all your clamps are the same. It looks like your fixture was setup for 24 parts. So instead of removing and swapping clamps (takes long time to full unscrew and then reinstall) you have 8 op1, 8 op2, 8 op3. The first cycle you only process op1. Second cycle you process op1 and op2. And 3rd and subsequent cycles until the last two, you process all 3 ops. Now you load 8 raw stock in the first 8 positions, clamp them down and run op1 on them. Then you just unscrew the clamps about 1 turn on the screw, remove the piece from that clamp and move it to an op2 position. Lather, rinse, repeat. It should be a ton faster to just loosen the clamp by about a turn and move the stock than to reposition the clamps. All of this is moot if I misunderstood what you're doing. In which case the last things I'll throw at you are: 1) Consider a form tap instead of cutting tap so your threads in aluminum will last much longer. You can helicoil them later, but its nice if they last as long as possible, and hand in hand with that, 2) jump on Amazon and pick up this: "Wheeler Firearms Accurizing Torque Wrench" This is essentially the love child of a light torque wrench and a screwdriver. It is super easy to use. Without it, It is very easy to over torque the screws and wear out the fixture prematurely. If you are using a torque wrench you have repeatable results regardless of who loads your fixtures and chances for failure plummet. As you can tell, I really enjoy this stuff. If I'm telling you things you already know, no offense intended!

[@GregsGarage]

Bill - I welcome all input. I am new at this, so my ears (eyes) are wide open for suggestions... Good news, we think alike. I designed the fixture with 4 rows so the parts would progress from one size to the next, to the next... That said, we are running about 1000 parts, so changing clamps between ops wouldn't be a big deal... We'd run 1000 through op1, then we'd run them through op2 and so on. We will have 2 identical fixtures, so we will swap the entire fixture out and load parts on a table while the machine is running. I'm in favor of the Pierson system, but the guy running all the parts wants to use a locating boss. It's his shop, so it's his rules. I am the designer/prototyper and he is the production guy. He is a top shelf tool and die guy, but we discuss all our options before we land. We have also talked about helicoils for the fixture. We were planning to use either a Wiha hex screw driver or a bicycle torque wrench like you described. You can get them in all torques and hex sizes. I bought a couple when I switched to riding a carbon fiber frame... Its BAD to over-tighten your seat post if you're dealing with CF!!! I haven't tried thread forming yet. I just ordered a bunch of tooling yesterday, I should have thrown one or two of those in the cart... Next order I'll grab one. I think all my taps are H3. Again, your input is SPOT ON, so don't hesitate to point out opportunities. I have SO MUCH to learn.

[@rowankatherine6352]

Fantastic 😍💋 💝💖♥️❤️

[@GregsGarage]

Thank you!