Fixture for Leatherette Koozies from JDS

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Anyone have any ideas for a fixture for these? I need to do a small run, and more in the future. Doing one at a time is not feasibe. Units also tend to not be flat, so the fixture would need to be designed to handle multiple units and flatten them out as well. Thanks in advance.

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[Paul hardy]

What about something like this in the attachment? Just make the fingers the width to slide the koozies on flat, and make them long enough to add weight to hold them down.

[Jeff Body]

I don't have any experience with this but here's a thought.

Cut properly spaced squares in a piece of acrylic. place the koozie under the acrylic and laser through the square holes you just cut. Since the acrylic is clear it'll help you make sure the koozies are straight and it'll help flatten them.

[Braden Todd]

I would try to cut a wide piece of wood etc to insert into the piece, have it tight enough to stretch the piece flat and tight. Then I'd trace an outline of the piece on mdf etc, line up the pieces and pack out the bed.

Good luck!

[Bill George]

I would try to cut a wide piece of wood etc to insert into the piece, have it tight enough to stretch the piece flat and tight. Then I'd trace an outline of the piece on mdf etc, line up the pieces and pack out the bed.

Good luck!

You could like cut 10 or whatever fits in your machine in a row out of 1/4 inch plywood, kind of like mittens without the thumbs using your laser. A little sanding and your good to go.

[Chris DeGerolamo]

You all were on the same train of thought as I was, the main concern being enough weight to bear down on the units to keep them flat. I did have a sleeve of sorts to flatten the proof unit - making a row of sleeves as suggested seems to be the route I'll take. Because this a community of sorts, I'll share my process as well as the fixture CDR once complete. Thanks all.

[Bruce Clumpner]

I'd combine Jeff & Braden's idea putting a plexi lid over the fingers to spread the koozie, that way you have down pressure too. If you make two of these, you can rotate them through your machine fairly quickly for reduced production times.

[Kev Williams]

are they hollow, or do they have some sort of bottom?

[Chris DeGerolamo]

They are closed at the bottom.

[Larry Duclos]

You might try clip boards and buy extra clips. Laser a series of holes at intervals to make them adjustable. Flat head screws from back side and you can

take it in and of the laser easy.

[Chris DeGerolamo]

So, somewhat like I suspected, the fixture (made of 1/8" plywood) I produced failed to meet my needs. I have attached the CDR of the fixture I made. Each 'finger' is just wide enough to keep the koozie in place. Only problem, and a big one at that, is that the sides are not flat even though they are stretched a bit. In a nutshell, I had to run each side 4 times at varying Z to compensate.

My next attempt will be to fill the inside with something to take up the extra space...I just noticed that one of the marble coasters we have slips inside pretty well and offers a bit of much needed weight.

I talked to the Fab dept at JDS and they acknowledged the issue and suggested to put something inside.

I'll provide the results of my next experiment...standby.

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[Martin Boekers]

Can you put a large dowel or can in it and rotary?

[Chris DeGerolamo]

I was able to get a steel bar from the local big box store, but it really doesn't do much. To supplement my fixture, I have been sliding in the 4" marble coasters into each sleeve. It helps a lot, but they are still not perfect. There are some variances in construction; every few units I get one that may have a skew in the stitch, or one that's been smashed to hell n back. Currently, I am still running around 2-3 passes at varying Z to achieve a good engraving. Running one at a time would relegate me to button-pusher all day, and I'm already consuming too much machine time as it is. I'll continue to post updates and "tricks" if I ever get any.

[Martin Boekers]

I understand, I would talk with tech support at JDS to let them know of your problems, maybe along the way they can correct it. I had issues with the new leatherette flasks,
the burn gold through black. Due to the curve shape and the thinness of the material I couldn't get a good consistent engraving. I called tech support and they ran tests and
told me they didn't have an issue though, so I did tell them that I won't be able to purchase this for the lasers I use. :( I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to use the travel
mugs of the same material either. The thicker pieces such as coasters are real nice, I'm just worried about durability and staining though... Good Luck, If you figure a way
to make it work please share. This is one thing I wish JDS would do is make jigs available for purchase of their product line that needs them just to make our life a bit easier. ;)

[Chris DeGerolamo]

I did speak to the fab dept at JDS. They effectively acknowledged the issue(s) and told me how they run them, which was just about the same line of logic I am currently using (having to stuff each koozie with something to stretch it out flat).