A readers asks, "I am a fixture designer.... I am new at this job .... when designing a weld fixture in the CAD program should I allow any room between the holding pieces and the [product] parts?" Rentapen's Queen of Lean Machine Design explains how Rentapen designs for the real world while designing machine tooling inside the perfect world of CAD where 2.0000" means 2.0000".

How Sub Assemblies Save a Ton of Time and Money in Machine Design. Sub Assemblies in machine design are fun and easy and the really help save time and money in a lot of ways. Once you learn how to use them efficiently you will see all kinds of places that they can be used. Another post of Weld Fixture Design 101 by the Queen.

What, Where, and How of Shims and Shim Packs I am excited about our new Free 3D CAD Models ordering service on Rentapen’s web site.  I know I promised to talk more about the simple weld fixture (weld jig), this week,  however I am delaying that because this is (I think) so COOL!! Our line of tooling components are now even easier to use.   I invite you to play with this new 3d model downloading service.  These files are Free! ...

Rentapen Inc., located In Waukesha, WI has added a brand new free service to their website. Rentapen is proudly introducing their 3D CAD Models. The 3D Models will be the new American standard for the Machine Designing Industry. Rentapen’s new 3D models will change how Machine Design Engineers and CAD Drafters design their weld fixtures for the better. The 3D Models will greatly reduce machine design time. Machine Design Engineers and CAD...

Discover how to adjust the location of a straight line action clamp. Often times, when designing a fixture we need to think ahead to where else adjustments might be made that will affect the area of the design we are working on. In this video lesson we discuss using RAPid Plate ™ RB09 in combination with metal shims and over-sized holes to locate a straight line action clamp sub assembly. So in this lesson we talked about sub assemblies....

We are continuing our discussion of the use of a Straight Line Action Clamp in a weld fixture. The purpose of the clamp in our sample fixture is to move a locating pin into a hole in the product part to locate.  Then, after the product is welded, the Straight Line Action Clamp can retract the pin, so that the product can be removed from the weld fixture. In this weeks blog video, a round locating pin is replaced by a diamond pin in our...

  In weld fixture design we often use the holes in the product for locating the product part in the fixture.  What do you  think designers should ask when considering pinning a hole?     The location of the hole in one product part can be precisely located in relation to the other product parts it is being welded to.  This is done by using the right design methods.     Major design difficulties can occur if some...