Looking for some advice on some specialty tape we could use to protect our aluminum fixturing from the wear and tear we are seeing. We are making a lot of a very complicated part so our fixtures are seeing a lot of use. I need to find a fairly cheap way of protecting them. We are already seeing signs of wear on them. Any help would be great.
Is the wear coming from simply the setup and removal of checking parts?
If so, maybe you can look into sending out your fixturing for anodize or powdercoating.
if you wanna go really cheap you can paint them yourselves using enamel paint or plastidip. If you prep them right, basic enamel paint should be pretty durable.
Yeah aluminum might not be an appropriate material for your fixtures unless you get them anodized. I've had amazing wear resistance once anodized.
Another great material to use is 3d printed PLA. you can model and print your own fixtures within a day.
I would check out 3M products for a Teflon tape or something of that nature. I use the 2-sided tape for fixturing and it's the best I've found so far for holding parts. I will say the 3M rolls are not cheap so as suggested above getting a coating might be a better long-term solution.
Replace the wear surfaces with something harder. Aluminum post with a steel cap. Or, go the other way with a plastic wear surface. Our Rayco kit has nylon rounded cones (R20-NC) for setting the part on. We've also got some cheap plastic knobs with a 1/4-20 stud that someone probably bought for the same purpose.
