Is Fixturing Really Important?

[den-den]

"is fixturing important?" IMO, it is a luxury when making one-offs and a necessity when making multiples.

 

[Chips O'Toole]

I believe in clamping, and I know it has some effect on warpage IF you also weld carefully. "SOME" effect. As everyone here knows, you can clamp something perfectly and still get a potato chip if you don't weld the way you should. It bugs me that people who sell stuff make it sound like nothing that has been clamped can warp.

I just wonder how important a fixturing table is, if America is full of productive professional shops that don't have them.

 

[Harry Knutz]

I believe in clamping, and I know it has some effect on warpage IF you also weld carefully. "SOME" effect. As everyone here knows, you can clamp something perfectly and still get a potato chip if you don't weld the way you should. It bugs me that people who sell stuff make it sound like nothing that has been clamped can warp.

I just wonder how important a fixturing table is, if America is full of productive professional shops that don't have them.

As a previous poster noted, Fixturing is not necessary if you are going to make one item, You just need good clamps and make sure everything is square. The shops I have worked in would make elaborate fixtures if we were going to make a bunch of stuff for a job that may order stuff for years to come or if we were building things that were sold continually, The main reason for it, Is it saves labor and mistakes. You have a guy on a bandsaw and or an ironworker, Plasma table etc. with a cut list and the guy on the fixture is putting the stuff off of the saw into it, Clamping things in and tacking, Then welding it.

We had huge tables with tops that were 1 inch thick and more, You just build a fixture for a job on top of it, Then when the job is done grind the welds off and break the jig pieces off of it and clean it off for the next job. Purpose built fixtures were stored in the yard until needed.