Integrating the setup planning with fixture design practice by concurrent consideration of machining and fixture design principles

摘要

In the conventional setup planning methods, the required fixtures are planned in a sequential order relative to other activities of the setup planning. In the present study, a new approach has been developed and a concurrent method has been proposed for integrating the setup planning and fixture design practice, which paves the way for considering the fixture design principles in parallel to setup planning activities. This eliminates the need to revise the setup plans to remedy the possible conflicts which are common to conventional procedures. The fixture principles have been cast into mathematical relations as a means to developing the proposed method. In the present study, the locating surfaces are determined as the most important step of the fixture system design. The reference faces which cannot be used as locating surfaces are also distinguished, in order for the designer to revise the design of the workpiece.