Hole spacing and sizing tolerances for 5/8" tooling?

Fixture Tables
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I looked at your FA75 system page as well as other parts of the site to try to compare, but I couldn’t find this information. What are the tolerances on hole sizing and spacing for your 5/8" tooling? I was recently trying to drill out a custom fixture-plate like thing to use your tooling on and couldn’t really find any kind of consensus.

Thanks in advance. :slight_smile:

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Shoot for the exact size dimensions for the hole we build in tolorance to the tooling.

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@Fireball_Wyatt how much tolerance is built into the tooling hole spacing and size wise?

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@Fireball_Wyatt, the tolerance I’m having a hard time with is the spacing between the centers of the holes. Strong hand lists two hole spacing tolerances for their tables: +/-.0015 and +/-.001

I’ve seen 2" hole spacing +/-.0005" elsewhere, but there isn’t anything on the market for what I’m after so I’d like to end up with something that works with the tools I’ve already got from y’all and plan to use on it. I don’t have a milling machine so I’ve got to order the part machined to spec and the tighter the tolerances, the more expensive it gets.

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I believe on the pins its .621-.622 on the pin diameter. So you holes can only be of spacing by .006 this will be very hard without a template.

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Id say if you can give your machine shop +/- .0025 that will be your best bet but hole location should not be an issue in its being done with cnc they will usually easily +/-.0005 the more critical dimension should be hole size you should have them aim for 0.625 +0.001/-0.000. That should indicate to your machine shop that you want a precise reamed hole not a 5/8 drilled hole. The drilled hole will vary anywhere to up to +.008.

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@Fireball_Wyatt, thanks for the detailed response. This is extremely helpful. Ideally I’d probably just have a jig i could use on anything I wanted that hole pattern on, but for the next thing I will likely just send it to a service and order my custom part. I managed to drill a few holes really accurately with careful measuring and checking and checking again but it was horribly slow and they ended up being noticably off which wasted a good chunk of aluminum. It’s kind of wild how difficult it is to get right without an actual mill…

My wife and I reamed every single hole on my fixture table. It’s really great for tight fit, but half the time the pins have to be pounded in and out (not an issue with the fence blocks, just certain pins). I’m starting to think holding +.0004/-.000 was a little too tight. It’ll probably wear in over time.

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Measure the hard pins, Fireball had some 16 mm pins get mixed up with 5/8 pins. The hard ones could be 16 mm.

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@charliecrew , looks like I have a bunch of 16mm pins haha I guess I’ll be reaching out. It certainly explains why I had trouble with it.

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Yeah just call us. If you have your old order number ready when you call it makes it easier on us. Will get them changed out.

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@Fireball_Jason, it’s a pretty small deal. My experience with all of your tools has been so great with everything and the logistical problems you guys have to deal with to keep multiple product pipelines going the way you do makes this kind of tiny issue impossible to avoid.

Everybody at Fireball has been super helpful. My only real issue has been things being out of stock because they’re so good they’ve become really popular.

I’m using these tools to get really good quality results at home on projects we need and I don’t have a lot of time to spend in the shop, so having thought out, convenient to use tooling that just works is awesome.