Paying the bills...

[TomG]

I've been home all week building a fixture for a product we are developing at work and thought that I'd share the type of things I do when not doing the hobbyist thing.

The purpose of this fixture is to align a piece of mylar film with an injection molded part so the two can be laser welded together. It consists of a plate with two locating dowels to position the film, a lower assembly to hold and register the molded part and an upper assembly to hold and register a mask to block off areas that are not to be welded. In addition, there is a clamping platten built into the lower assembly that can squeeze the whole mess together with 175 pounds of force, putting the molded part and the film in intimate contact with each other. The upper assembly also has a latching mechanism that is easy for the operator to use but still able to resist the clamping force. The clamping mechanism utilizes a shuttle riding on ball bearing in angled slots to multiply the force of a pneumatic cylinder by four.

This fixture mounts on a linear slide inside an enclosure (last months project) that contains the laser, and feeds it under the laser at a steady rate to fuse the two parts together.

Tom

[dallen]

nice work Tom

[EdK]

It looks like it could be 007's suitcase. Very high-tech looking.

Ed

[ETC57]

Very cool Tom!!

[Mayhem]

That is one hi-tech sandwich press you have made there Tom

I'm sure that seeing it assembled doesn't do justice to the skill, precision and time (design and machining) to make such a part. How many hours went into that?

Very nice work.

[TomG]

Thanks guys. Now if it only works...

Darren,

I started on it Friday and finished it up this morning, so...about 40 hours or so including assembly. The project has been in the research and design phase for the last eight months or so, so it's nice to start making some hardware, although we have taken delivery on several injection molded parts.

Tom

[sasquatch]

Impressive work Tom, very nice!!

Always being nosey,, is that bench top laminated Maple? Lol (Have one just like it.)

[TomG]

Yup, laminated maple and well used.

Thanks,

Tom

[f350ca]

Nice work Tom (as usual) Is it done by cranks or CNC?

[TomG]

Thanks Greg.

It's all cranked unfortunately. The CNC is on my Christmas list.

Tom