Each assembly fixture consists of four plastic posts that attach to a standard Bosch assembly pallet. Besides being specifically aligned to accept the cover housing, the fixture components maintain tolerances of 0.003 inch (0.0762 mm) so that the cover is held firmly in place. Oreck’s engineering team designs the components needed for each fixture using standard CAD tools. According to Oreck Senior Model Maker Bill Fish, “Designing the fixture components is fairly easy. We already have a file for standard support posts. So, we add the 3D top cover, embed it into the support post, then blow away the cover. The whole job takes about an hour and a half.” In the past, Oreck used only traditional methods to produce assembly fixtures. These included silicone or epoxy molds and urethane castings with inserts.
Several years ago Oreck added two large Fortus 3D Production Systems, which use FDM Technology. With FDM, Oreck has the option of using additive manufacturing to create the fixtures, which they take advantage of whenever possible. “Using additive manufacturing reduces fixture production costs by up to 65 percent, because we produce the fixtures in-house,” said Fish. “With some traditional fixture projects costing over $100,000, the savings can be substantial.” At this rate, machines can pay for themselves with just a small number of projects.
