Soft Jaws on Form2

General Discussion
1

Anyone ever make useable soft jaws on the Form2 using the tough resin? I’ve made many good prints with the tough resin and it occurred to me that it might work for soft jaws. I do know that Markforged makes a good printer for this purpose but I don’t have one of those. ; )

I use a cnc marchine to cut aluminum etc and I’d rather not have to cut soft jaws if I don’t have to. It would be nice if I could make some using my Form2.

Thanks!

2

What in the world are soft jaws? :smiley:

3

Soft jaws are for holding another piece of material in a vice. Often when machining, you need to machine 1 side of a part but when it comes time to machine the other side of the part, you have to flip the part over in the vice to machine the other side. But sometimes the part is now a different shape and the straight edges of a vice cannot grip the flipped part effectively and safely. So we can make soft jaws out of another piece of metal that are basically the reverse shape of the part you are trying to make. Those jaws can now clamp the part in the vice so you can machine the other side. People do it all the time in aluminum but it’s another step that takes more time and effort. If you can just 3d print the soft jaws, it can be a time saver. I hope this made sense. I don’t particularly like making soft jaws but it’s sometimes a necessary step. It would be easier if I could just 3d print them. And… I’m lazy,

I hope this long winded explanation helps.

4

Very interesting! I’ve been playing around with designs for hydraulic press dies…print the resin shell on the FL printer, then fill with less expensive resin. I haven’t printed them yet, but will probably use the tough resin. Cheers!

5

Yes- you can print soft jaws on a form 2- I have even printed soft jaws to fit my channel locks and vice grips pliers.

I would recommend DURABLE resin for printing soft jaws as it is far less likely to fracture under pressure.

6

Cool! After I asked my initial question I did some digging on the Formlabs website and they also mention the possibility of making soft jaws. I’m definitely going to give it a shot!