After recently attending the Level 3 training course at Hexagon Metrology I noticed that using clay as a quick fixturing device was more ubiquitous than I thought. We have some clay here in our lab that we use from time to time, but it's pretty 'greasy' to say the least. The clay they had at Hexagon appeared to leave little to no residue on the CMM plates or the parts (not to mention...your hands).
So, I was wondering, for those of you who use clay to fixture parts, what kind of clay are you using? Links to possible vendor(s)? Much appreciated!
I use Silly Putty. Have the same little egg of it that I bought 25 years ago.
I literally have about 25 eggs worth of Silly Putty at the house....don't ask me why. It's all sitting in a bowl on my desk. I guess I could bring that in and try it, although, doesn't it settle a bit over time?
I literally have about 25 eggs worth of Silly Putty at the house....don't ask me why. It's all sitting in a bowl on my desk. I guess I could bring that in and try it, although, doesn't it settle a bit over time?
I've got three or four of those in my cubicle desk drawers. Mostly used for office hijinks, though. Nothing productive...
As far as putty for inspection use, I like Rodico (the green stuff). Fantastic for vision machines, though I don't think it's resilient enough for CMM work. Never had the need to try.
I also use two sided tape and glue gun and magnets and magnetic vee blocks
I've been checking some thin titanium parts recently and found that rare earth (Nyobium) magnets work great for holding these down. The magnetism will pull through the titanium and clamp it down to a steel block or plate beneath. There is very accurate technical data available for these so you can easily calculate exactly how much pulling force you will get with a particular magnet held a known distance away from a piece of steel. This allows you to maximize but confidently stay under any restraint force limits indicated on the print.
