Originally Posted by
SCzEngrgGroup
The answer depends on your CAD/CAD. Most modern systems (Solidworks, Fusion, etc.) give you several ways of doing it, regardless of whether the fixtures are evenly spaced, or randomly spaced. In most cases, I build a 3D model of both the fixture and the parts. I can define the CAM operations for a single part in the first fixture, then pattern the operation to duplicate it to the other fixtures, whether they are equi-spaced, or randomly spaced. Equi-spaced simply makes it a tiny bit less work.
The pattern allows the order of operations to be chosen to do all operations on the first fixture, then do all operations on the second fixture, etc. or to order the operations for fewest tool changes. I also have tremendous flexibility in how things are ordered simply by how I define the CAM operations. If you don't have this level of flexibility with your CAD/CAM and actually have to manually edit g-code, or laboriously, manually define numerous toollpaths, or run multiple g-code files, then I would suggest you need to get better CAD/CAM tools. I NEVER manually edit my g-code, and have never had a problem handling multiple fixtures in exactly the way I want to, within a single program, even with 4 or more fixtures, and dozens of operations per fixture, machining several sides of each part.
Regards,
Ray L.