A high school engineering team needed a critical foam component milled to spec — fast. The part had a CO2 cartridge mount offset from centerline, which meant standard fixturing wouldn't locate it correctly. The Roland mill they had access to had no powered tail support, which ruled out the obvious solutions.

The fix was a custom locating fixture designed and fabricated to hold the foam precisely during machining, compensating for the offset geometry and the lack of opposing support. It significantly improved alignment and repeatability across the run.

Not the most complex project in this portfolio. But it's a good example of what a lot of real fabrication work actually looks like: a constraint that rules out the easy answer, a tight timeline, and a solution that has to work the first time.

Disciplines: Fixture design · CNC operation · Precision machining · Foam machining