Bracket 102

[gimpyrobb]

It does make it easier to follow along.

[Dave Lee]

Wow Threepiece, very impressive! I like the term, "Stiffening darts." They just called them, "Knees", where I worked.


Dave

[doubleD]

Very informative post and very easy to follow......thank you.
+1 on like to see the press.
How much time on making the dies/tooling? And then to do the brackets?

Again nice job!
dd

[RancherBill]

Thanks for the great write of how it's done. I had never really thought about how prototypes, proof of concept, low volume, custom orders were done.

I have re-read it several times and I have learned a lot. The idea that I know I will STEAL is gluing the paper onto the metal. I have made stuff and, to plagiarize CamDigger, I designed to .001, laid out to 1/32", drilled to 1/16" and fixed with a file.

How long does it take to make one, assuming the CAD is done?

Is there an ansi, sae, iso or whatever standard for dart, dimples etc so you can reuse stuff?

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by cutter

Threepiece, this has been a really interesting thread to follow along.
I've never observed or even given much thought to this kind of bracket being done by hand or even thought that they could be built precisely using the methods you've demonstrated here.
Very informative.
My hat's off to you.

side note: I assume you are aware that you could post up to five pictures per reply but have elected not to?

I developed these techniques and others over the last twentyfive years, I'm sure others have used them.

My attempts at posting more that one picture in a single reply have been unsuccessful.

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by gimpyrobb

Thats pretty sweet. Any chance of you posting pics of the press?

There is nothing extraordinary about the press, it is a Dake 50 ton H- frame. I actually prefer to perform this on my fabricating table. It is a two inch thick hardened steel plate with holes drilled and tapped 1/2-13 throughout the surface. This gives me a good amount of mass for transmitting energy of the hammer blows into the work and offers unlimited clamping options.

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by digr

Very interesting and time consuming I bet. Are these prototypes?

Yes, they are.

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by doubleD

Very informative post and very easy to follow......thank you.
+1 on like to see the press.
How much time on making the dies/tooling? And then to do the brackets?

Again nice job!
dd

Before I make the tooling I must design and draw them, the people making the request provide information on only the part, not how it is made. The tooling for this job took about ten hours to develop. One part takes about one hour to complete, the majority of that time is spent cutting and trimming the blank.

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by RancherBill

Is there an ansi, sae, iso or whatever standard for dart, dimples etc so you can reuse stuff?

I have only the drawing to adhere to. Most all of the tooling is specific to the job. I almost never reuse it.

[toprecycler]

Originally Posted by threepiece

Before I make the tooling I must design and draw them, the people making the request provide information on only the part, not how it is made. The tooling for this job took about ten hours to develop. One part takes about one hour to complete, the majority of that time is spent cutting and trimming the blank.

Are you able to bill according for all setup time? Do you have to give an estimate of parts of are you able to bill time and material? Thank you for sharing. I will definitely be rethinking how I fab some brackets in the future.
I have been having problems posting pictures from my iPod. I can only do one at a time but I have figured out if I do one, send/ post the reply, then I can go back and edit the post and add another picture. I can only add one picture at a time or my iPod blacks out and freezes up. Heard it has something to do with IOS8 but not sure. But if I want to do a lot of typing I switch to the computer and then sometimes sign in with iPod to upload pics.
Brian