Custom Highlighter UV Printing Jig: 5/8″ MDF

Today we’ll make a custom highlighter UV printing jig at CNCROi.com for a customer using 5/8″ MDF.

For this specific project, I requested that the customer actually send us samples of the highlighter in question as it’s an odd shape, and one that we haven’t done before at CNCROi.com.

I’ve completed enough jigs through the years that sometimes drawings aren’t enough and an actual product is required to do the test fitting to make sure you have just enough hold while you also have just enough give, it’s a very very fine line.

At CNCROi.com, our CNC router can accurately adjust movements down to 0.001″, it’s rare that we need to be that precise, even for this custom highlighter UV printing jig, but small minute adjustments were done from the initial drawing before making this actual jig (done off camera – it’s boring stuff).

Once the perfect balance of fit, form and function is achieved, then CNCROi.com can copy those settings onto a larger format, that of the actual custom highlighter UV printing jig, and everything will be identical, though I still do a test fit just to make absolutely sure everything is dead-on.

Prototyping is import because without it, a lot of money can be blown through making jig after jig after jig until the spec is achieved that’s perfect for the customer’s needs.

With this shape, we went into the MDF about a quarter inch and ended-up using just one bit, it happen to have the perfect diameter for the highlighter corners, initially, I thought I’d need two but testing and prototyping revealed otherwise.

You have to keep in mind that these are plastic highlighters, thus, their tolerances are all a little different, that’s why I added the finger tabs in two spots on these custom highlighter UV printing jig pockets, some fit slightly tighter or looser than others but as long as it was relatively easy to pull them out and push them in, then the goal of a perfect jigs was achieved.

We’ve been making custom jigs for various platforms for over a decade at CNCROi.com.

When it comes to MDF, it’s a very forgiving material, as a result, regardless of the jig we fabricate for our customers, we always start with MDF, even if it’s just a prototype, and then we can more-on to more durable materials such as Delrin, HDPE or even Aluminium, depending on the tolerances and specs required by the end-user.

Something to keep in mind, is that regardless of what we make the jig from, there is always a little warp in the board, either initially or over time, as such, you need to make sure you have a good vacuum table and/or mechanical hold downs.

The vast majority of our customers have custom UV jigs that are only pocketed on one side and without hold-down holes to hold the part down, as such, there are internal stresses, regardless of material or shape, that make the material want to curve as there is less stress on one side compared to the other.

Delrin and HDPE also make for good jigs, but they are best used when you have a UV printer with a very good vacuum table and/or mechanical hold-downs.

For this custom highlighter UV printing jig fabricated at CNCROi.com, as with most jigs we produce, they come off the router absolutely dead flat, but future warping is just something that will happen and you need to account for it, it’s easily rectified.

Compared to other CNC router projects I’ve done at CNCROi.com, the above is a relatively clean process, there isn’t a whole lot happening.

At CNCROi.com, we have a magnificently powerful vacuum table, as a result, even warped boards are flattened no problem and during production, NOTHING moves, even small parts, while we are carving and cutting things out.

The nice thing about CNC routers is that we have precise control of the depth of carving, something we can’t achieve using our lasers or other toolings.

Another consideration when it comes to custom highlighter UV printing jigs and other types are the requirement for a hard stop, it saves so much production time to be able to lightly snug a jig on your printing bed for absolute repeatability and reliability when it comes to branding whatever you are working on or with.

Another things you may want to consider is having two jigs made, that are identical. This means you can load and unload another while the printer is working, this speeds-up production and wasted downtime just standing around.

The reason for not cutting out the MDF first is to make sure that the pockets match perfectly the outline of the jig, otherwise, even a fraction of a degree or placement that’s off by a fraction of an inch, will affect the use of the custom highlighter UV printing jig for printing accurately.

After doing all the inner pocketing of this custom highlighter UV printing jig, it’s time to cut it out so that this can be shipped to the customer and they can use it.

Jigs can be as bit or small as you require made by CNCROi.com custom to your spec.

Before moving the jig off the production table, I review everything to make sure things are within spec, I can still fix things if there was an issue, as the custom highlighter UV printing jig was not moved nor the vacuum turned off, but as with most project at CNCROi.com, this was perfect right at the finishing line.

Production using CNC routers is a messy process but this dust has no affect at all on the bit, whether there is dust in the way or not, it follows the path assigned to it religiously.

The last step of this custom highlighter UV printing jig is to fill it with highlighters to make sure everything fits perfectly to my (and by extention, the customer’s) expectations.

Need a custom jig? Contact CNCROi.com right now!