Debate: Was my $400 custom fixturing setup a waste or a win?

I spent about $400 on a custom fixture for a repeat aluminum part job about 3 months ago. The idea was to save time on setup and hold tighter tolerances, but so far I've only run that job twice. The fixture works great and cut cycle times by 15%, but I'm wondering if the money could've gone to better tooling or a new vise. Has anyone else here gambled on a custom solution that didn't pay off fast enough?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin8967d ago

Hold on, you spent $400 on a custom fixture and only ran the job twice in three months? That is a tough pill to swallow. I've been there where you think a custom solution will save the day, but then the work just doesn't show up like you hoped. That $400 could have bought you a nice new Kurt vise or a killer set of end mills that would get used every single day.

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bell.jessica7d ago

That $400 fixture example really flipped my thinking on custom tooling.