Fixture Design

How does the hydraulic press operate? Is there a area where u can feed stock into it?

I can picture somthing like a stepper motor feeding stock rod into the press, stopping for a certain amount of time while the press bends it, then either the press or another machine cuts it. Then the motor sends in more stock, like a miniature assembly line.

hey, no, it's the same kind of press you'd use to replace bearings and the like. It's just has a electric pump on it to feed the ram. We only wanted to build a fixture because there is about 2 maybe three thousand of these and we are not making squat on them so they need to move fast. That's also why we wanted to do it in one operation. We will hand feed the stock in. Thanks very much for you help

I don't know if this is relevant to your problem, but I do woodworking for a hobby and when I have to cut many pieces on a miter saw that are the same length, I set up a stop block. Simply a block c-clamped to the table at the right length that I can butt the wood against and chop without measuring. It's very accurate and extremely fast.

Perhaps you could have it cut the rod on the downstroke before bending with a multiple headed tool and then have the person hand-feed the rod against the stop block ready for the next punch?

Mike

The time you woud spend making a fixture to do the parts in 1 stroke will greatly exceed to time needed to do 3000 parts with standard shop proceedurez.

If you have an ironworker machine, it will be very minimal set up time to cut off, deburr and bend the parts. Same if you use a bandsaw and a brake.

A fixture to do it in 1 operation woud be tricky. It woud hav to cut off the length and then bend it, so woud need to be hardened tool steel and fairly precise in the related dimensions to avoid scrapping parts or destroying itself. Only worth the effort if you expect to get further orderz for thouzandz uv parts.

I'd start with AutoCAD or some other tool and draw in the raw material, then draw in another layer, the finished part. Look for common points that don't change before and after. They could be your clamping points and/or your locating points. Examine were you datum points are against where the press makes contact and the cut off occur.

After about an hour, you'll see your fixture is designed for you, add in a base plate and some way to attach it the machine and your done.

That should help you work through your brain freeze.

Frank

Thanks so much Frank. seems something you said did help my brain "Freeze",,,,lol, I don't have a cad program, but I can sketch something up one step at a time. Thanks very much,,,,,And to the others that tried to help ole simple me, thanks as it was just some kinda block I had,,,,,anyway again thanks guys as I am sure to have another one,,,,,because I'm getting the old-timmers thing,,,,,,,lol

Hey kid! (I'm 59 and don't do real well with partial differential equations anymore myself) How's about shearing the thing to size with a rigged, hardened shear blade on the press mandrel just before bending it in a V-groove platen? That way, you don't have the end of a 20' stick of steel whipping around in the shop! It may be necessary to clamp the piece to the platen, but that may be doable with a fair-sized die set spring to hold the short piece in place just prior to the shear blade making contact.

LOL, Kid,,,,thanks,,,,,lol,,,Bill it's 9:43 here in my shop this morning and you got me laughing so hard my gut is starting to hurt,,,,,,lol,,,,well you've got me by 10 years so I would think you may have had the same problem as I have been having,,,,it's almost like when your looking for something for a long time and then you tell someone what your looking for and they point to a place right in front of you and shasammmmmmm there it is, right in front of you all the time,,,,,lol,,,anyway I'm gonna think about it for a while over coffee and then put something to work,,,,again thanks guys,,,,,,,,

Chuck,,"just an ole'fart who loves what he does"

You should look for a used screw machine (lath) it with automatic feed from a piece up to 20' long. Feed and finish cut after set up to the lenght you want. Good luck.