Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
Modular workholding delivers innovative solution for better mobile crane base build
Industry
Construction
Challenge
Throughput
Challenges
It’s a common scenario: your shop is running smoothly, staying ahead of schedule — until you hit a bottleneck at machining. That’s what was happening with this large part. It was actually being welded in a Bluco modular fixture. But because there was no proper fixture on the machining side, it had to be run through very slowly to prevent movement. If it could be fixtured to hold steady, it could be finished faster, but a new machining fixture wasn’t in the budget. It was one of those “it is what it is” situations — or so it seemed. Enter Bluco fixtuing specialists, who never pass up a chance to Make it Better.
Solution
- Existing modular welding solution
- Additional chain clamps
- Bluco fixturing expertise
After challenging themselves to use what the shop already owned, and thinking outside the box, Bluco fixturing specialists had a unique solution. Flip the part and reuse the modular welding tooling with just a few additional chain clamps to get the job done on the machining side.
Result
Fixturing the part properly for machining provided the rigidity needed speed up the machine. In addition, the part could be setup offline and set on the mill. This reduced machine downtime and also eliminated the need to assemble the fixture on the machine bed — a slippery place to work. The results were faster fixturing, more accurate results, higher throughput and a very happy machine operator.
Getting Started with bluco
1. Share your challenge
Upload a description of your workholding application and a CAD model of your part to our secure online portal. Submitting your info doesn’t mean you’ve made up your mind, it just starts a conversation.
2. Talk With Us
Within 1-2 days, an application engineer will call to set up a design consultation. We never contract out, so you’ll deal directly with Bluco and communications will be kept strictly confidential.
3. Review Your Proposal
Once we understand your challenges and goals, we’ll develop custom modular solutions. Then, we’ll review designs as well as purchase and rental options virtually. Check out the rest of our process here.
