Novel concept and Development of

Modular Fixture for Machining Process

1
Vijayasimha K., 2M.V. Manoj. 3S.R. Chandramouli
Ace Designers Ltd. Plot 7&8, II Phase,
Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore-560058
1
simha@acedesigners.co.in
2
manoj@acedesigners.co.in
3
mouli@acedesigners.co.in

Abstract: - This paper is focused on the overview of manual fixturing and flexibility in
fixturing. Decision of designing a new fixture is totally dependent on the batch size and
number of setups. Making the dedicated fixture is not the only solution to hold the
components for machining which increases inventory of fixtures. For a small batch sized
components with variety, modular fixture is the best method. The idea of modular fixture
and its development along with a case study regarding the use of tombstone in
manufacturing environment has been described.

Keywords: Fixtures, fixture elements, Modular fixture.

1. INTRODUCTION
2. Clamping elements
1.1 Work Holding Fixture a. Clamp
b. Support elements
Fixture is a device to hold, locate and support c. Studs
the work-piece during machining. Fixture plays an
important role in manufacturing a machine tool 3. Resting pads
component. The purpose of fixture is to locate and a. Self aligning resting pads.
hold the work-piece firmly in particular orientation b. Adjustable resting pads
with respect to machine tool so that the tool should
approach the work-piece and it should withstand 2. PRINCIPLE OF LOCATING THE JOB
the applied cutting force without changing in its
position during machining. At the same time the
clamping force should not deform the work-piece.

During optimization of fixture one should

consider the configuration of tool reach and part
density, maximization of part retention, part to part
clamp repeatability, part distortion, part vibration
potential, optimum location from part datum, ease
and speed of part load/unload, operator safety &
ergonomics, part load/unload error proofing,
economic optimization.[1] Fig.1, 12 Degrees of freedom

Some of the basic elements used in manual Locators are designed to hold the work-piece
fixtures are, against the cutting forces, while clamps act as a
support to locators. All 12 degrees of freedom
1. Locating elements (DOF) (Fig: 1), 6 axial DOF and 6 radial DOF
a. Butting pads/ Pushers must be arrested in the central axes of the work-
b. Cylindrical Pins/Diamond pins piece to ensure proper referencing of a work-piece.

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Locators restrict the work-piece’s movement with
the necessary strength that maintains the position of
work-piece during machining.

Locating a work-piece can be done by two

type of locating methods,

1. External Location
2. Internal Location

External location or plane locating system

locates a part by its external surfaces. Internal
location or concentric locators locate a workpiece
from a central axis.

2.1 Principle of External Location Fig.3, Internal Location of component

When positioning locators they should be

spaced as far as possible from each other preferably
on a machined side of the part. This compensates
for irregularities in either the locators or the work-
piece and gives maximum stability.

3. CLAMPING METHODOLOGY

Clamps are the fixture elements used to hold

the position of the workpiece in the fixture. The
main objective of clamping is to withstand the
cutting force producing a load or moment on the
workpiece.

Fig. 2, 3-2-1 locating principle The generalized requirements of Clamping

Locating a workpiece from its external edges is
the most-common locating method. The primary
surface is located with three supports. This is based
on the geometry principle that three points are
sufficient to define a plane. Two adjacent edges,
usually perpendicular to each other, are then used
as a secondary, with 2 locators and tertiary, with 1
location, to complete the 3-2-1 location or six-point
location which arrest 9 DOF (Fig:2). Remaining 3
DOF is arrested by clamps. This method uses six
individual locators to reference and restrict the
movement of workpiece in all degrees of freedom.
elements is to provide a suitable locking for
achieving the stability of location and to produce
sufficient frictional effects for the above purpose
but without causing any undesirable effects to the
workpiece such as distortion or surface damage.
It is necessary in all clamping devices that the
clamping forces have to hold the work-piece in its
located position and should not cause any
displacement in its position or excessive distortion
under the action of the clamping forces.

2.2 Principle of Internal Location

Locating from internal surfaces from an

internal diameter is another method of locating the
component. Locating plugs and locating pins are
used for locating of internal surfaces. Locating Fig.4 Principles of Clamping
plugs are used for larger holes and locating pins are
used for smaller hole. To avoid redundancy in Clamping forces should be directed towards
location a relieved or diamond cross section pin is supporting and locating elements. In addition, the
used as a secondary location in conjunction with force should be transmitted to the rigid sections of
primary cylindrical pin location. Fig: 3 show the the body frame of the fixture as shown in the fig: 4.
arrangement of internal locators.

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4. FLEXIBILITY IN FIXTURE
With the advent of latest technology adopted,
the machine tools have become highly flexible and
productive. Added to this lot of automation is
introduced into the machine to reduce the non
cutting time drastically so that the machine can be
run unmanned. Multitasking and multi axes CNC
machines are used to reduce the number of setups
required to manufacture any component. Due to the
reduction in the setups the number of fixtures
required is reduced.
No single type of fixturing is the complete
solution for every work holding requirement. The
best way to approach work holding is to use a
combination of special purpose or dedicated,
general-purpose or temporary and modular work
holders.
5. CONCEPT OF MODULAR FIXTURE AND
ITS DEVELOPMENT
Modular fixtures are constructed from standard
fixturing elements such as base-plates, locators,
supports, clamps, etc. These elements can be
assembled together without the need of additional
machining operations and are designed for reuse
after disassembly. The main advantages of using
modular fixtures are their flexibility and the
reduction of time and cost required for the intended
manufacturing operations. Automation in fixture
design is largely based on the concept of modular
fixtures.
Modular fixtures are developed with grid-hole-
based systems (Fig.6) and T-slot based system
(Fig.9).
5.1 Grid Hole Based System

In grid hole based system, a pattern of holes

with equal pitch in between is made on the table.
The work-piece is placed on the table and clamped.
The layout plan is made ready for positioning and
clamping of work-piece. Most commonly used
elements with grid hole table are diamond pins
(Fig: 7), rectangular blocks, with a set of holes on
it, locating screw (Fig: 8 ), a socket head type
screw incorporating a locating shoulder combined
with a threaded portion which makes it possible to
hold and locate simultaneously.
Fig 5: Application of modular fixture

As shown in Fig.5, for applications where large

numbers of parts are run on a regular basis, special-
purpose, or dedicated work holders should be used.
Where a moderate to small number of parts are run
on an irregular basis, modular work holders may be
the better choice. Likewise, for small runs or one-
of-a-kind simple parts, use of temporary work
holders, like vises, chucks, or collets may be the
most economical.

It is essential to respond for the rapid growth Fig.6: Grid-hole Table

of demand rate by increasing the ability to design,
manufacture and assemble the fixture at a faster
rate in a shorter lead time. [5] Increase in Flexible
Manufacturing System (FMS) has also called for
increase in flexible and cost effective fixtures.

Use of dedicated fixture for small batch

quantity with verities, is time consuming and
uneconomical for the modern manufacturing
requirement. Reusability of the dedicated fixture Fig.7: Diamond Pin Fig.8: Locating Screw
elements will be very less if the work piece become
obsolete. Hence use of modular and flexible fixture 5.2 T-Slot Based System
by reducing the use of dedicated fixture will be
more meaningful in reaching the requirements in a Fig.9 shows the typical pallet with T-slot
shorter lead time. based system. It is easy to clamp the different

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variety of components on this pallet. It can be used
in both horizontal and vertical machining center.
For holding the component, some of the basic
fixture elements used are tenon, T-nuts, support
cylinders, plugs, adjusting blocks, resting pads etc.
Some of the elements can be standardized
depending on their usage.
Fig.9: T slot table
Fig 10: Standard T-slots
Fig.11: Tenon Fig.12: T nut
Similarly to increase the productivity and
effectively run a machine unmanned it will be ideal
to use a cubical or hexagonal structure called as
tomb stone. The machine tool can be effectively
used during night hours and holidays unmanned
with the components having large cycle times.
Fig.:13 and Fig.:14 shows the modular fixtures
used on Horizontal machining centers suitable to
machine multiple components.
Fig.13: 4 faced Tombstone
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Fig 14: 6 faced Tombstone
Tomb stone can have either T-slots or grid-
hole configuration. The pitch of T-slots or holes
can be as per the individual requirement. Similar to
the tomb stone we can even design L plates which
can hold the component vertical or two faced
structure where components can be mounted on 2
faces. Depending on the size and shape of the
component any such holding structure can be
designed.
6. MODULAR FIXTURE ELEMENTS
Wide varieties of fixture elements are used for
holding, locating and supporting the component.
Modular fixture elements can be designed
depending on the individual requirement. With the
designer’s creativity, intelligence and experience
the fixture elements can be designed for
modularity. Some of the vary basic fixture elements
are,
1. Support Cylinders/Step blocks
2. Fixed locators
3. Adjustable locators
4. Clamps
6.1 Support Cylinders:
These are the standard elements used for
clamping support. Depending on the height
requirement the support cylinders can be built.
Fig.15 depicts the application of support cylinders.
Fig 15: Support cylinders
6.2 Step Blocks
Step blocks can be used where the clamping
height is less. It is used along with a step clamp as
in Fig. 15
Fig.16: Step block and step clamp
6.3 Fixed Locators:
Fig 17: for machined Fig 18: for casting
Surface surface
These are the most commonly used fixture
elements used to rest the components. With the use
of serrated self aligning resting pad (Fig: 7)
irregular, un-machined or casting surface can be
rested. The self aligning locators with ground pad
can be used to rest machined surface. These are
available in market with different sizes.
6.4 Adjustable Locators
Fig 19: for machined Fig 20: for casting
Surface Surface
Similar to fixed locators, self aligning
adjustable locators (Fig.19 and 20) is very much
useful in supporting the component other than the 3
basic locations.
7. PRCATICAL VALIDATION OF
MODULAR FIXTURE
Modern manufacturing system that is
developed, aim at achieving high productivity to
reduce unit cost. This necessitates work holding
devices to be efficient, i.e. to increase the rate of
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loading and unloading to speed up the
manufacturing cycle time. It is not only for the
small batch sized components but sometimes even
one off component and immediate requirement
component can be addressed with these kind of
modular fixture.
7.1 Productivity Validation
Fig. 21: Hexagonal tombstone
Fig: 20 show that, a machine tool component is
loaded on hexagonal tombstone. One face of the
tombstone is having 2 components in 1st setup and
another face is having 2 components in 2nd setup.
Totally, on 6 faces 12 components are mounted for
machining. This helps in reducing the total cycle
time which is required for machining 12
components individually. This is because the tool
change over time i.e., number of tool changing can
be reduced by completing one similar operation on
all components in single stretch.
Let, ‘T1’ is the time taken for completion of
each component in 1st setup and ‘T2’ for 2nd setup.
Total time taken to complete 6 nos. of first setup
and 6nos. of second setup,
T = T1 x 6 + T2 x 6
Time taken to complete first setup, T1 = 25min
and for second setup, T2 = 30min. Total time taken
to complete 12 components is T = 330min.
considering individual setup, 6 tools are required to
complete all the operations in first setup,
T1 = Total Cycle time/tool + tool change over time
∴ T1 = (3+3+3+5.5+7.5+3) min + (15 x 6) sec
T1 = 26min 15sec
Similarly second setup took 31.5min for
machining individually. Hence first setup took
1min more when machined individually while
second setup took 1.5min extra. Overall 15min
reduction in cycle time is achieved when we
machine 12 components on a tomb stone.
 It has become very economical by utilizing
5.5hrs of night hours/ unmanned hours which
increased the OEE of the machine tool along with
increase in productivity. Also by adopting this kind
of fixturing system one operator can handle
multiple machines, which reduce the man power
cost.
7.2 FE Analysis to Validate the Stiffness of
Hexagonal Tombstone
There is a need of computer aided tools in this
modern era to support fixture designing and
analysis which predicts the stiffness of the fixture
under the action of cutting load. The time spent on
designing and fabricating fixtures and cost incurred
is crucial for improving the production cycle of
current products. Every time it is not economical to
manufacture a fixture and then optimize rather, a
CAD tool like Inventor, solid edge, Pro-e, Catia etc
and FE analysis tools like Ansys, Nastran, Patran,
Pro-mechanica etc. is used for determining the
position of the component in the fixture and
strength of the fixture. In this case pro-mechanica
has been used for FE analysis of hexagonal
tombstone.
Fig.21: Pro-Mechanica Analysis
All the boundary conditions and machining
forces with proper material selection are applied on
the tombstone. Stress and displacement analysis is
made.
Fig.21 shows the analysis result of hexagonal
tombstone which confirms that, the tombstone
developed is good enough to hold the component
and accuracies obtained on the component are
within the acceptable range.
8. CONCLUSION
 The modular fixture has been conceptualized,
developed and validated.
 It has been found that these fixtures helps in
effective clamping of the parts to be machined
and can be reused with little modifications for
holding multiple varieties of parts. Modularity
can be extended to any element of the fixture
suitable to any complex shape and size of the
workpiece with the application of basic
principle of fixturing.
 This novel concept has increased productivity
and change over time by 25% to 40%. This has
also eased out operators fatigue in loading and
unloading the components. Upon using the
tombstone type of modular fixture with multiple
components mounted, we could reduce the
cycle time by 5% along with facilitation for
unmanned production.
 Usage of optimization tool in the CAD/CAE
process helped the designer to foresee its
effectiveness for various loads prior to
development.
Reference:
1. M. Kršulja, B. Barišić and J. Kudlaček,
Rijeka (Croatia) and Prague (Czech
Republic) “Assembly Setup for Modular
Fixture Machining Process”, Advanced
Engineering, (pp. 39-51).
2. P H Joshi, “Jigs and Fixtures”, The McGraw-
hill Publications 200.
3. Andrew Y.C. Nee, “Computer-aided Tooling
Design for Manufacturing Processes”.
4. Bijan Shirinzadeh, “Flexible fixturing for
work piece positioning and constraining”,
Emerald Assembly Automation, Volume 22
Number 2 · 2002 · pp. 112–120.
5. Andrew Y C Nee, Z J Tao, A.Senthil Kumar,
“An Advanced Treatise on Fixture Design and
Planning”, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte.
Ltd. 2004.
6. Erik Karl Henriksen, “Jigs and Fixture
manual”, Industrial Press Inc. New York, 1973.