Anodized Aluminum Parts/Jig

[Joe Pelonio]

These are parts that go on paintball guns used in law enforcement training, made by a local place. I'm showing it as an example of a jig. It would take forever to do 200 of these both sides one at a time. I cut the shapes out of card stock, set them in place and engrave 63 at a time. Next time I will use a thicker material though, maybe 1/8" MDF. When putting them in it's too easy to bump the ones already there with this thin stuff. Since the top of the part is rounded, I only have the bottom and two sides to align them.

[Bill Cunningham]

Hi Joe... I cut stuff like that out of scrap acrylic.. I have a fellow next door to me that makes the BIG acrylic signs for Castrol and other companies.. I get some good scrap pieces, and cut holes in them for holding jigs etc..
Here is one holding a bunch of 9mm polymer mags..

[Joe Pelonio]

Hi Joe... I cut stuff like that out of scrap acrylic.. I have a fellow next door to me that makes the BIG acrylic signs for Castrol and other companies.. I get some good scrap pieces, and cut holes in them for holding jigs etc..
Here is one holding a bunch of 9mm polymer mags..
That's the same reason I would use MDF, I get scraps free from a guy. I guess guns are a popular item for laser work.

[Mike Null]

I'm more partial to mdf because it's cheap, engraves well and assembles well with hot glue.

[Bill Cunningham]

Yup, what ever you can get cheap, that gets the job done.. Any complicated jigs, I just use Acetone to stick the Acrylic pieces together, dosn't have to be fancy, as long as it works.. If I 'have' to build a jig for a particular job, One that will probably be repeated, I usually bill the customer 25 to 50 bucks for the jig, then cut his setup cost way back the next time, so the customer sees the value in a placement, or holding jig, and I can get the job done a lot faster, and on to the next one...

[Dave Jones]

For single use templates I have used corrugated cardboard cut from a scrap shipping box. For repeated use templates I use whatever is cheap that I have lots of. 1/8" baltic birch ply is under $2 for 12"x24" from Sloans, so I'll use that before acrylic or solid hardwoods, which cost me more.

[Ashton Waters]

Masonite or "hardboard" works very well also. It's very cheap and cut well in the engraver. It comes in 1/4" and 1/8" thick in 4'x8' sheets for just a few dollars each.