Third Party Workholding Options

With a 5-axis machine there are numerous ways to fixture your parts on the Pocket NC machines depending on your application. Pocket NC offers two workholding options which are discussed here, but in this post we’re going to share several other options created by Pocket NC customers. Because there are numerous ways to fixture your parts for multi-axis machining customers frequently inquire about alternative workholding options that are an ideal fit for their application. Some benefits of different workholding can include utilizing a larger work envelope or making your part(s) more efficiently.

Below are customer inspired workholding. Some options are off the shelf or available for purchase, others are made on the Pocket NC, some are a combination of the two. We also note which workholding options have plans available and which do not. Check out the options below and see if there is something ideal for your part:

Tombstones: For a few years now many customers have come up with variations on the tombstone. Below are a few options:

• Eddie Kramer (NYC CNC video includes plans), the original tombstone design from 2018!

• DIY Engineering (video here and includes plans)

• Deviant Clockwork (video here, no plans)

• Design the Everything (video here, no plans)

Adapted off of the ER40 Fixture: Many customers have built off of the existing ER40 fixture collet to accommodate larger round stock or a low profile workholding system. There are a few different options below:

• JohnnyQ90 who threaded a hole in 1” piece of stock as seen at 1:50 in this video (no plans)

• Slotted workholding like Q’s instagram post, Deviant Clockwork did a version of this too and provided the design in Thangs here (called the ‘ER 40 set screw fixture’).

3 or 4 jaw chuck: Josh Pieper’s blog gives the details on this here with off the shelf parts.

Vise Adaptations

• Winston has an example of a low profile vise here, while there are no plans this is a straightforward design.

• Deviant Clockwork makes a dovetail vise here (no plans)

AYE. Pocket NC customer, Alex, designed a simple vise with interchangeable jaws that allow the stock to be centered. He has the vise and its accessories available for purchase on his website.

Deviant Clockwork has a nice playlist of workholding options on the YouTube channel here which include incorporating some off the shelf parts like a 5th Axis dovetail D0512

We hope these customer workholding resources are helpful and/or provide you with ideas on how to fixture your part. If you know of other options send them our way (contact us here) and we will update this article.