Methods of manufacturing a workpiece fixture for supporting a workpiece in a precision manufacturing process; method of generating a support blade machining pattern; and target material fixture

Abstract

Disclosed are methods of manufacturing a workpiece fixture (10) and also a target material fixture (10), for use in precision manufacturing processes. A sheet material is supported on a generic material fixture (10) and the sheet material precision processed to form support blades (16, 18) for a target workpiece fixture (10). Each support blade (16, 18) has a support locus and interstices are positioned in the support loci where a target pattern and the support loci coincide. Thus, there are no unnecessary clearances between the workpiece support (10) and the workpiece. The interstices that are present are located only where necessary to reduce or eliminate any interference between the precision manufacturing process and the fixture (10), when it is used in a precision process involving the target pattern.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.