Create a clamp tower
With the Add a clamp tower command, a rectangular pillar-based structure of plates is added to the fixture, to build a tower object that typically is being used to mount a clamp onto, that fixes the workpiece.
The center of the manipulator has to be placed above the fixture base plate. The U-axis of the manipulator is the reference for the orientation. The UV plane of the manipulator is the reference plane for the height of the tower.
 |  | |
| Orientation | Height |
When the command is started, a panel appears with the parameters of the tower.
| Parameter | Description | Remark | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | The size of the tower in U-direction of the manipulator. | ||
| Width | The size of the tower in V-direction of the manipulator. | ||
| Flange width | The outer part (flange) on the tower plate at the interlocking shape on the plate. | Value ≥ 2,0 mm. | |
| Dimension | The length and width dimension, measured on the interior or outer boundary of the tower. | ||
| Weight reduction | Option to remove unnecessary material in the plates to reduce the weight of the tower. | ||
| Minimum distance to plate boundaries | The minimum distance to be kept to the plate boundary, i.e. the minimum width after weight reduction. | ||
| With top plate | The tower includes a flat top plate to close its interior. | ||
| Tower base | The plane of where the tower base, i.e. its foot is being computed. This can be the top of the base plate, when positioned on the base plate, or the bottom of the base plate, when positioned outside the base plate. When the tower is positioned partially onto the base plate, the user has to decide at what plane the tower base has to be computed.  | Automatic The system recognizes automatically if the tower is positioned completely onto or outside the base plate. Tabs Computed at the top side plane of the base plate. Flat Computed at the bottom side plane of the base plate. | |
| Tabs | The tower plates include tabs at the bottom to position the tower on the base plate. |
All other attributes of the tower, like the plate thickness or the engraving, are defined in the global fixture properties and can be edited there.
When the dimensions and other parameters have been set according intended design, a simple mouse click outside the panel will execute the creation of the tower object. It consists of four vertical, interlocking plates, each with their own identity. And on top, optionally, a plate to close the interior compartment of the tower.
