Tooling Fixture Plate for Milling Machine - guidance requested

I have recently commissioned my Denford Novamill and had it make its first chips. All good! Now I turn to using it in anger and realise I need to sort a good way to hold workpieces. It looks like most small mill users make some kind of general purpose fixture plate.

Top offer some background, I plan to make small parts in brass, steel and ally - many for clock making. Hence milling shapes from sheet material is a common requirement. But I also want to be able to do general milling, and so need something versatile.

I guess I had in mind some kind of aluminium plate, bolted to the mill table, with a grid of tapped holes in it. This seems to be what most people make as a general purpose fixture. But how big should it be, in relation to the table? Same size? Bigger? What material? Is tool[plate the way to go, or is ordinary flat ally OK? And what thickness seems to work well? What screw sizes work best? I have my own thoughts, and I know some of this will depend on the work you do, but I'd like to put this out to the group. Any experiences or guidance would be much appreciated!

Cheers
Graeme

For a mill you need a vise. best have a couple of them. For a mill like yours 2 tooling vices, one flat vice and 1 normal mill vice could do almost all jobs.

Then you will need a kit of hold down clamps. Additional aluminum plate with same T slot will be great.

20x20cm 10mm or thicker could be an ideal tool plate. 6mm or 1/4 screws work best IMO. Spaced holes say 1 inch

I find these blocks are so incredibly useful. https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catal...-Metric-Blocks

Many thanks for the input so far.

Boyan - the good news is that the table T slots are the same size as my manual mill, so I have all the usual clamping accessories to hand. My mill vices are however over sized, as the Novamill is much smaller. So I may need to invest in something more suitably sized.

When you say a "flay vice" what do you mean? Is that one where you essentially get two separate jaws, and use the table T-slots to set them any distance apart?

You also mentioned a 20x20cm tooling plate. The table on the Novamill is 360mm long x 120mm wide, and has a Y travel of 150mm. Does that change your suggested dimensions? I am particularly interested in how big to make this plate in relation to the table. Should the plate be bigger than the table, to allow clamping off the edge? Or is that overkill from experience?

Cropwell - they do look like useful items, and if I were to standardise on M6 fixings to a tooling plate, they could be a great addition.

Any more thoughts, especially on the tooling plate dimensions would be most appreciated. I realise I can make it any size, but I'm hoping for real world experience here!

When I had my Novamill, I made a tooling plate from some flat bar, with a bit gauge steel dowelled along the rear edge, then used MiteeBite edge clamps to hold lengths of flat bar in place.

There's a photo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mc_mtb...n/photostream/

IIRC it was made from either 1/2" or 15mm bar to give enough depth for recessing the mounting bolts

I like a fixture plate made with a grid of tapped holes with 1" centers. I find it's most versatile as it allows all kinds of fixtures and sub-fixtures or vices to be held. Can use dowels for stops and to push against using low-level clamps like Mitee bite, even on odd-shaped parts. You can bolt down strips of material and machine soft jaws which can then push against.

It can use standard fixture clamps with a lot more scope for finding a place to hold because you are not restricted to slots. Holding parts for full uninterrupted profile passes is easier because you can often all ways find a hole to bolt part down with which you can't always land on a slot.

You can hang it over the edge of the table and take full advantage of all the available travel with Clamps effectively outside the travel area. For instance, a 4th axis can be hung on the end and not rob any tablespace.

If you make the plate same as table size you can rotate it 90 degree so it supports larger parts , while at the same time you can clamp them at the original table.

I meant some flat vice or like you say split vice/ i don't know the correct name


I wouldn't bother so much at the beginning until you figure what exactly you will be making . But you will definitely need a vice. The aluminum plate you can drill for specific jobs and when you figure what exactly you need , make a new shiny one.4

I dont know what happened to me last 2 years but i started hating universal stuff like vacuum tables and so, and started doing fixtures for each specific job. And am pretty happy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Boyan Silyavski

If you make the plate same as table size you can rotate it 90 degree so it supports larger parts , while at the same time you can clamp them at the original table..

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Even with the cabinet removed I don't think a table size plate could be rotated 90 degrees and if it could it doesn't give any advantage.

Thanks guys - that's just the kind of input I was looking for.

Sounds like I need to bite the bullet and make something - and then see how it works for what I do. Rather than try and overthink it all first.

So I'll grab a bit of ally plate - a little oversize for my mill table - and drill/tap a grid of holes at 1" spacing. And I agree that M6 is likely a good choice here. Then it just needs holes adding to bolt through for T-nuts, to hold it to the table.

Then I should use it in anger, and see how it works. I'm sure a Mk2 will happen at a later time, but this sounds like a great way to learn what I really need!

Some good workholding info on this thread. I 3D print blocks and fixtures and I might adapt the Datum plate and MiteeBite design for my A4 mill which I mainly use for acrylic cutting.

My mill is in sort of storage at the moment as I am refitting my den during lockdown. I have plans to modify the mill to make the steppers more 'inboard' and change the homes and limits to travelling switches on X and Y. I am photographing it so there may be a thread about it later on.

Interesting thread - thanks for the pointer. Another to add to the future "To Play With" list!

Good luck with the den refit....