Extended Fixture Plate

CNC Machines Nomad
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I am wondering about the feasibility of building a fixture plate for my Nomad that extends over the 8"x8" table on the left hand side (-x) by a few inches. This would be to allow a modular vise style setup where I have a low profile fixed jaw (semi)permanently setup on the right hand side and a clamping jaw mechanism on the left hand side. Having the extended part of the table allows for mounting the clamping mechanism without eating into the machinable area (much). Has anyone done something like this? It’s pretty straightforward to design, but I’m wondering if the off-center (even cantilevered) weight distribution will cause issues with the bearings on the rails. Also, is there a published weight-limit for the Nomad table, or even just an empirically determined limit to stay under?

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I’ve thought of this and built one-off jigs for my nomad that extend out to the left and rear of the plate. They work well.

I think it was one of the lost opportunities for the Nomad 3 that they didn’t add extra space around the cuttable area to allow clamps and vices to hold an 8x8 bit of stock.

I think a larger base plate would be really useful and you’ve reinspired me to make one!

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As long as that area doesn’t need to be surfaced, great idea.

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That’s how my personal Nomad plate is designed and how the SMW V2 plates are now being offered.

There’s room to extend the left side 2.5" easily and the front close to an inch (883Pro)

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I’ve just been thinking along similar lines: I’m looking at machining a piece of wood that is very close to 200x200mm, and I’ve been checking how far the Nomad axes reach and whether there is space around the table for fixtures. It seems the X extends quite a bit beyond the edge of the table and Y slightly less so. There is definitely space on the left, back and a bit in front. I would love a wider table, so that I can place alignment guides on the left and in front (or in the back) for two-sided machining of a 200x200mm block of wood.

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