Ken, these are the “soft jaws” I am referring to. The setup I have allows aluminum extrusions with a dovetail to be easily swapped out if the vise. Then these pieces of aluminum are the new vise jaws that can be machined to the shape of part. Basically custome workholding. First opp was to cut the parts out of plane stock. In the pic with many parts you can see. Then a set of jaws are machines to take those pieces and flip over allowing each piece to be clamped and held while machineing the original bottom side that is now the topside. And then another jaw was cut to hold parts in a vertical position to drill the hole for shaft. A lot of work but for multiple parts it’s a big savings.
And the jaw for the vertical position for drilling pin holes.
Learning all this stuff and all the processes machinests go through has made me realize why prices and time are the major factors in quotes for getting parts made. One part and a lot of set up time plus material costs then if multiple parts are done that price can be significantly reduce per part. So hats off to you guys that do this for a living and I will not complain (as much
) about costs of parts
. Hope this helps understanding ken, it’s taken me quite a while to understand these processes and I know I’m just at the tip of the iceberg!!