Durable and Long-Lasting Fixtures

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In workholding applications, what makes the difference between success or failure, profit or loss, or finished product versus piles of scrap? The answer to that question lies in the quality and operation of your workholding fixture. A well-crafted workholding fixture consistently produces excellent parts, in as few operations as necessary. Manufacturers have a lot to consider when choosing the right fixture. How many parts should it hold? How many operations will it take? What will it cost, and maybe more importantly, what will it save? When will it be ready?

Thanks to a history of designing solutions for the most challenging applications and its unwavering commitment to innovation, All World stands ready to help answer these questions, and custom build the right solution for you.
Let’s explore the key differentiators that set All World apart from the competition and make it uniquely positioned to meet your needs. After acquiring Arrow Engineering in 2021, All World has incorporated Arrow’s operations into its own with an incoming move to the All World location in early 2025. Arrow Fixtures are a product of All World’s Machine Accessories division.

Quality

All World prides itself on designing and manufacturing reliable, durable, and precise fixtures.

“Your fixture will hold parts securely, and clamp them repeatedly, in the same place each and every time,” Engineering Manager Steve Hagedorn said.

A high-quality fixture is not something that you can just measure with a micrometer, or even a CMM. While dimensional accuracy is, of course, important, suitability for the task must be designed in from the start. Functional testing is at least as important, because that is where the rubber really meets the road.

Prior to shipment, fixtures undergo this testing in the final assembly department, and staff meticulously review inspection documents to ensure proper operation. There are so many questions to answer at this point: Is the part easy to load and unload properly? Do the clamps bend, or damage the part in any way? Is the part in contact with all the datum pads when clamped? Does it work every time?

“These types of requirements, which are hard to define, are often the ones that make the difference between an okay fixture and an exceptional fixture,” Hagedorn said.

Final inspection in the quality control department documents adherence to tolerances agreed upon during design review. Thanks to their reliability and maintainability, the fixtures reduce long-term ownership costs.

We help customers save money, either by not buying something they don’t need or purchasing something that won’t be effective.

Scott Tilton, Project Manager

Durability

All World hydraulic, mechanical, and pneumatic fixtures are built for the long haul, typically lasting 10-20 years. Hagedorn said a 32-employee team prioritizes producing the best fixture possible as opposed to profit generation.

“We don’t skimp on quality materials or construction methods and buy the absolute best components, in order to help the fixtures last as long as possible,” Hagedorn said.

While other shops may sometimes take shortcuts and use soft steel because it is easier to work with, All World makes locating components made of hardened tool steel or carbide. The standard is to have all manufactured components finished by black oxide or anodizing for both aesthetic reasons and corrosion protection.

Maintainability

Careful consideration is given to maintainability. Unlike many other workholding solutions, Arrow Fixtures feature all internal porting. While fixtures with external porting might be easier to design and okay for a shorter-term project, they pose a host of maintenance problems in the long term. External porting can leak due to age, wear and tear, or if an operator accidentally grabs or bumps it. If a leak occurs, it can be extremely difficult and time-consuming to find and fix it. External porting also makes it more challenging to keep the fixture clean as it can collect dust and chips.

“Internal porting is more protected, more durable, and more maintainable,” Hagedorn said.

Arrow Fixtures also incorporate easily accessible fasteners and standard hydraulic cylinders, datum buttons, clamp arms, part stamps, and spring locator devices which make for easy replacement.

Even the best hydraulic cylinders will eventually wear or start to leak. Engineers at All World try to build in wrench clearance, and have all the critical fasteners visible and accessible, so when that day comes, it can be taken care of with minimum downtime. Few things are more frustrating than being able to see the screw that you want to remove, but not being able to get a standard wrench on it. Even worse, is having to tear a fixture halfway apart or remove it from the machine to change out something that should have been easy with a little advance planning.

Another aspect of maintainability that is easily overlooked is the availability of spare parts. If the low bidder on your fixture project goes belly up in a couple of years, all those dollars that you saved can be quickly spent in downtime and reverse engineering when parts are needed. By maintaining full documentation on every product made in the last 60 years, All World staff can track down the identity of any component needed and help the customer find it or build one for the customer.

Experience

All World’s design team has nearly 100 years of combined experience in fixture design. It can handle anything from fully automated hydraulic fixtures loaded by a robot to simple, one-part-per-load fixtures, clamped by an operator, and everything in between. A common request is to design a fixture that is “robot ready” so that it can be automated down the road, if the volume warrants it.

Timely Delivery

The All World team prides itself on the ability to produce your fixture almost completely in-house. This gives it the best possible control over quality and delivery. Every time a component must leave the shop, there is the potential for added delays out of All World’s control. By doing, not just its own milling (3, 4 and 5 axis), but also: turning, gun-drilling, grinding, and honing, All World maintains control over the delivery date.

Cost Effective

Being extremely dependable and maintainable reduces the real, long-term cost of the fixture solution, even though it can cost more dollars initially.

Thanks to All World’s experience knowing what has worked and not worked with a wide range of applications, Project Manager Scott Tilton said design advice can lead to critical cost savings and prevent mistakes.

“We help customers save money, either by not buying something they don’t need or purchasing something that won’t be effective,” Tilton said.

All World recently received a request to quote a two-operation fixture for a customer, but it was able to lay it out in such a way that they could finish the part in one hold.

Efficient

All World’s design team will work with you to develop a process plan that produces quality parts with as few operations as possible to reduce handling and idle spindle time.

“Sometimes just stuffing more parts in the work envelope is not the answer. At some point, the cost and complexity of a fixture with a lot of parts per load becomes unpractical, and counterintuitively, less productive,” Hagedorn said.

Ongoing Support

All World makes sure to support their fixtures and customers for years to come. With in-house drawings of everything ever built, All World can easily help customers find spare parts or the right component if it wears out or perform troubleshooting. It’s not unusual for All World to get calls about a fixture 20-plus years later, and sometimes from a business’s second or third owner regarding a fixture it made.

“We have drawings of everything we have built and every fixture we have done,” Hagedorn said.

Sometimes All World will get fixtures back for rebuilding, something it is happy to offer, in house or in the field. Hagedorn said customers appreciate All World’s expertise and longevity as well as high quality Arrow fixtures.

“Our fixtures are made to outlast the production of the part our customers produce,” confirmed Hagedorn.