Packet before pallet.
The standard ships as software before it ships as iron. Version 0.1 is a soft-jaw specification on vises you already own, and the jaw-machining programs arrive inside the packet. Cutting those jaws from our program is the fixture, the test protocol, and the proof you can run a packet — all in one operation, on the first job, which you are paid for.
Two versions of one standard · v0.1 soft jaws, live from day one · v1 zero-point, financed and earned into
A specification, not a purchase.
Defined vise classes, a jaw blank spec, and jaw-machining programs delivered inside every Job Packet. The first operation of your first job is cutting your own jaws from our verified program. That single act does three jobs at once.
- 01
It is the fixture for the job.
- 02
It is the test-part protocol — jaw-critical dimensions are probed and reported, so the jaws are the qualification part.
- 03
It is proof you can receive, load, and run a Praetore packet end to end.
| Item | Spec | Typical cost to you |
|---|---|---|
| Vise | 6″ double-station or single, from the approved-model list (common Kurt-pattern class). You declare models at onboarding. | Already owned |
| Jaw blanks | 6061 or 1018 per the packet spec, standard bolt pattern. | ≈ $40–100 / set |
| Vise mapping | One time: you probe and report vise location per our routine. Recorded in your shop profile. | 30 min |
| Off-list vises | We ship an adapter plate so the jaw programs still locate correctly. | No cost to you |
What v0.1 buys
Most of the interchangeability of a full zero-point installation, at roughly one percent of the iron cost. Work coordinates are picked up by the packet's probe routine; jaws are identical across shops because the program that cut them is identical; setup sheets reference jaw features rather than any shop-specific fixture.
What v0.1 does not do
Op-flip repeatability and multi-part loading are plainly inferior to pallets. We do not hide that: it is priced into the runtime estimates on v0.1 packets, and it is the entire honest argument for the financed upgrade rather than a reason to buy iron on day one.
A design claim from our workholding specification, not a measurement. We have not run enough jobs to publish achieved interchangeability rates, and we will not publish one until we have.
Twelve artifacts. All mandatory. Every job.
A packet is the complete, self-sufficient definition of a job, built so that any qualified shop can run it with zero engineering and zero clarifying phone calls. If you have to ask a question to make the part, the packet failed — not you. That one principle is what decides every field in it.
The twelve artifacts are the Job Packet's mandatory contents. Zero clarifying calls is the packet's release standard, not a measurement: if a shop has to ask a question to make the part, the packet failed.
What arrives, and what it is for
- 01
Cover sheet
Part image, qty, due date, material, runtime per op, special flags
Delivered as: 1 page
- 02
Customer print + model
Controlled copies; PMI where available
Delivered as: PDF + STEP
- 03
Process plan
Op sequence, stock spec and lot requirement, machine class per op
Delivered as: Structured doc
- 04
Verified NC programs
Posted to your controller, simulation-cleared, proven feeds and speeds
Delivered as: G-code per op
- 05
Simulation record
Full material-removal sim including holder clearance — the evidence
Delivered as: Video + report
- 06
Setup sheets
Workholding placement, stock orientation, WCS origin, jaw ID, torque
Delivered as: Illustrated pages
- 07
Fixture plan
Soft-jaw programs and jaw stock spec; pallet assignment at v1
Delivered as: Programs + drawing
- 08
Tool list
Type, diameter, stickout, holder class, expected life, substitutes
Delivered as: Structured table
- 09
Probing routines
WCS pickup, in-process checks, final verification with tolerance gates
Delivered as: Macro programs
- 10
Inspection plan
Features, instruments, sample plan, report pre-filled with nominals
Delivered as: Form + CMM program
- 11
Packaging & ship spec
Protection, labelling, cert paperwork checklist, ship-to
Delivered as: 1 page
- 12
Acceptance criteria
What done means. The shop's completion tap attests to exactly this list
Delivered as: 1 page
What you never have to do.
This list is the product. Any process change that adds a line to it is a regression, and we treat it as one.
- Quote
- Program
- Design fixtures
- Choose tools
- Interpret the print
- Write inspection reports from scratch
- Chase paperwork
Four gates, before release.
Every shop has been handed a program that somebody called verified. Here is exactly what the word buys you on a Praetore packet. A packet revision that fails any of these does not reach your portal.
Sim gate
Full material-removal verification with zero collisions, and holder clearance of at least 0.100″ or an explicit per-feature waiver. The simulation record ships inside the packet, so “verified” is a video you can watch rather than a word we used.
Tool-crib gate
Every tool on the list is either in the network standard crib list or shipped with the job. A packet never assumes you happen to own a 0.1875″ four-flute with a specific stickout.
Stranger test
A machinist who has never seen the part must be able to describe the setup and the first-piece process from the packet alone. If they cannot, the packet is not released.
Probe-coverage gate
Every guarantee-critical dimension has either an in-machine probe check or an inspection-plan feature behind it. Nothing critical is uninspected, and no dimension is ever covered by “the operator checked it.”
Packets are immutable once released. A change creates a new revision with a required changelog line, so you can always see what changed and why between the packet you ran last month and the one in front of you.
Load the pallet, run the verified program, probe, ship.
On v0.1 the first line reads “load the jaws you cut from the packet.” Everything after it is identical. Five portal states, each one tap, no paperwork, and an issue button that summons central engineering with the packet context already attached.
- 01Accept
One tap. The price is already on the packet when it reaches you, so accept attests three things only: the rate works, you have the tooling on the list, and the date fits your real calendar. Declining is a tap too, and it costs you nothing.
- 02In-setup
Setup sheets carry workholding placement, stock orientation, work-coordinate origin, jaw or pallet ID, torque specs, and rendered images of the loaded setup.
- 03First-piece hold
Probe and inspection results go in. The gate is automatic: proceed, or call engineering. You are not asked to make the judgment call alone.
- 04In-cut
In-process probe checks run from the packet's macro programs. Out-of-tolerance halts the job back to first-piece hold rather than making scrap for an hour.
- 05Complete
The completion tap attests exactly the acceptance criteria sheet — dimensions per plan, finish, count, documents complete. That one page is the contract in miniature.
The issue tap is not a blame button.
Press it at any stage and central engineering arrives with the packet, the revision, and your probe data already loaded. Issues are engineering failures by default: the postmortem asks what was missing or wrong in the packet, and the answer ships as a packet revision so the same failure cannot repeat anywhere in the network. Shop-attributable causes — a wrong tool loaded against the list, a skipped probe — are recorded factually and without theatre. The system is built so that most failures are ours to fix once, for everyone. That asymmetry is the entire point of centralizing the engineering.
Fixture rules, both versions
- 01
Every fixture in the library locates from standard datums — grid position or jaw step. No fixture may require shop-side modification.
- 02
Fixtures are designed for the part family, not the part, wherever the geometry allows it.
- 03
Every fixture drawing carries its own revision, and a fixture change automatically bumps the revision of every packet that references it.
- 04
Clamping forces, torque specs, and part-contact surfaces are specified on every setup sheet. “Snug it up” is not a spec.
The iron is a graduation, not a signup gift.
Version 1 is a single zero-point ecosystem — base plate, pallets, pull studs — installed on your machines and financed against routed work. Eligibility is earned: several completed paid jobs, first-pass yield at or above threshold, and a calendar-honesty score in good standing. You never buy it, and you are never de-listed for staying on version 0.1 — you see a different slice of the job flow.
Setup collapses toward pallet-swap time
The part is located and clamped off the machine. What happens at the spindle is a swap, not a re-indication.
Op-flips repeat within the system's published class
Zero-point families publish a repeatability class in the few-micron range. That is the number the second operation inherits, instead of inheriting how carefully somebody re-clocked a vise.
Multi-part loading becomes packet-schedulable
Grid and tombstone loading turn into something the batching engine can plan, which is what makes cross-customer batched packets routable to you at all.
Your own work gets faster too
The kit does not know which jobs came from us. Your runtime economics improve on everything the machine cuts, including the work you sell yourself. That is the honest close: it makes your whole shop better, and we financed it.
Coexistence is permanent
Version 0.1 and version 1 shops run side by side indefinitely. The router simply knows which packets require pallet capability — multi-part batches, tight op-flip work — and which run on jaws. No shop is ever de-listed for staying on 0.1. You just see a different slice of the job flow, and the earnings difference makes the upgrade argument better than we could.
How the financing worksThe first packet you run is a paying job.
There is no trial, no installation invoice, and no fee to be considered. Tell us what you run and we will tell you within two business days whether the network fits your machines.