Vacuum Fixturing
This is my first foray into vacuum fixuring. Fixture is aluminum with 1/8″ rubber o-ring stock. Overall it was successful but I have some things I will do differently next time. The fixture is designed so I could side mill both ends and spot drill with a carbide drill/mill. The cutting action on the left end was pulling the stock away from the fence and I needed to reduce the feed dramatically to keep the stock from sliding. An extra stop or full slot for the material would fix this. I originally had a .1″ deep slot for the o-ring which was too shallow and held the part above the fixture. I increased the depth of the slot which worked but next time I would increase the width of the slot to allow the o-ring to flatten out.
Fixture.
Carbide drill mill.
Material on fixture.
Finished part. Through holes drilled on manual vertical mill.
