JIGS AND FIXTURES

As the word ' Fixture' explains itself i.e fixing the part at a particular location. Fixtures are the equipment used for locating the part and fixing it at a location during the operation like drilling, rimming, inspection and assembling etc. Fixtures are used in those operations where the tool need not to be guided. Tool is guided manually by the operator or by some robotic arm.  e.g in a welding fixture the child parts are need to be located and clamped but there is no need to guide the weld torch by fixture. It is guided by the welder or the robot.  For more clarification refer to the picture of a simple welding fixture As shown in figure part A is located with two nos. locating blocks and similarly the part B is also located with two nos. locating blocks. The degree of freedoms for each part is zero. No need to guide the welding torch.

Jigs and Fixtures are used in manufacturing industries for precise mass production within the minimum cycle time. The major function of jigs and fixtures is to locate and fix the component at a particular location when some operation (e.g drilling, cutting or assembling etc) is to be performed on the part. For mass production, it is necessary to produce identical parts within the minimum time to achieve the productivity as well as quality goals. Basically the function of jigs and fixtures is similar excepting one functional difference between the two i.e guiding the tool. Fixtures locate the part and fix them during operation whereas the jigs guide the tools in addition to locating and fixing the components. In this chapter, we are going to study the basic concepts of Jigs and Fixtures, their types and basics of design procedure of jigs and fixtures for a beginner.