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For shopsThe standard

Packet before pallet.

Version 0.1 of our standard is a soft-jaw spec on vises you already own. The jaw programs ship inside the packet, and cutting them is the first operation of your first paid job.

Apply as a shopHow the financing works
v0.1 · Soft jaws
Live from day one, on vises you already own.
v1 · Zero-point pallets
A financed upgrade you earn into.
A 6-inch machine vise with soft jaws cut to hold the specimen partAn isometric render of a 6-inch Kurt-pattern-class machine vise: iron body with ways and screw channel, the fixed jaw, the moving jaw, and the screw out through the end with the handle on its hex. Aluminum soft jaws are bolted to both jaws and cut with a stepped nest, outlined, that holds an aluminum specimen housing. Callouts: soft jaws cut from the packet's jaw program; a 6-inch vise you already own; the same nest at every shop.6-IN VISE · SOFT JAWS · CUTXYZ123
  1. Soft jaws cut from the packet’s jaw programThe first operation of your first paid job
  2. A 6″ vise you already ownKurt-pattern class, from the approved list
  3. Same nest at every shopOne program cuts every set
Soft jaws cut from one program match at every shop.

A spec for vises you already own.

Defined vise classes, a jaw-blank spec, and jaw programs inside every packet. Cutting your jaws from our verified program does three jobs at once.

  1. 01

    It’s the fixture for the job.

  2. 02

    It’s the test part — jaw-critical dimensions are probed and reported.

  3. 03

    It proves you can receive, load and run a packet end to end.

Version 0.1 shop-side requirements, with typical cost
ItemSpecTypical cost to you
Vise6″ double-station or single, from the approved-model list (Kurt-pattern class). Declared at onboarding.Already owned
Jaw blanks6061 or 1018 per the packet spec, standard bolt pattern.≈ $40–100 / set
Vise mappingOne time: probe your vise location with our routine. Recorded in your shop profile.30 min
Off-list visesWe ship an adapter plate so the jaw programs still locate correctly.No cost to you

What version 0.1 buys you

Most of the interchangeability of a full zero-point setup, at roughly one percent of the iron cost. Jaws match across shops because one program cuts them, and the packet’s probe routine picks up work coordinates.

Twelve artifacts. All mandatory. Every job.

Everything a shop needs to run the job — no engineering, no phone calls. If you have to ask a question to make the part, the packet failed, not you.

Job Packet
Released · 12 of 12 artifacts
  1. 01Cover sheet
  2. 02Customer print + model
  3. 03Process plan
  4. 04Verified NC programs
  5. 05Simulation record
  6. 06Setup sheets
  7. + 6 more artifacts

04Verified NC program

1O1001
2G90 G54 G17 G20
3T3 M06
4S8000 M03
5G00 X0.8 Y-1.25
6G43 H03 Z0.1 M08
7G01 Z-0.5 F20.
8G01 X3.2 F60.
9Y-0.8

10Inspection plan

#FeatureTolerance
1Pocket 3.000 × 1.500±.005
2Pocket depth .500±.005
34X Ø.201 positionPos Ø.005 A|B|C
4Overall 4.000±.005
Release gates Simulation Tool crib Stranger test Probe coverage

What you never do

This list is the product. Anything that adds a line to it is a regression.

  • Quote
  • Program
  • Design fixtures
  • Choose tools
  • Interpret the print
  • Write inspection reports from scratch
  • Chase paperwork

Four gates before release.

A packet that fails any one of them never reaches your portal.

  • Datum AA

    Sim gate

    Full material-removal simulation: zero collisions, and at least 0.100″ holder clearance or an explicit per-feature waiver. The simulation record ships in the packet.

  • Datum BB

    Tool-crib gate

    Every tool is on the network’s standard crib list or ships with the job. No packet assumes you own a 0.1875″ four-flute at a specific stickout.

  • Datum CC

    Stranger test

    A machinist who has never seen the part must be able to explain the setup and first piece from the packet alone.

  • Datum DD

    Probe-coverage gate

    Every guarantee-critical dimension has an in-machine probe check or an inspection-plan feature behind it. Nothing rests on “the operator checked it.”

Released packets never change. Any change is a new revision with a changelog line, so you can always see what changed and why.

Load, run the verified program, probe, ship.

Five portal states, one tap each, no paperwork. On version 0.1, “load” means the jaws you cut from the packet.

  1. 01Accept

    The rate is already on the packet. Accepting confirms the rate works, you have the tooling, and the date fits your calendar. Declining is free.

  2. 02In-setup

    Setup sheets show workholding placement, stock orientation, work-coordinate origin, jaw or pallet ID, torque specs and images of the loaded setup.

  3. 03First-piece hold

    Probe and inspection results go in. The gate decides: proceed, or call engineering. You never make that call alone.

  4. 04In-cut

    In-process probe checks run from the packet. Out of tolerance sends the job back to first-piece hold instead of making scrap for an hour.

  5. 05Complete

    The completion tap attests the acceptance criteria sheet: dimensions per plan, finish, count, documents. That one page is the contract in miniature.

A spindle probe taking a four-point bore cycle on the specimen partAn isometric render of a machine spindle nose with a touch probe — body, stylus and ruby ball — lowered into a counterbored hole of an aluminum specimen housing held in soft jaws. Detail A magnifies the bore with four touch points, P1 to P4, and their approach directions. A control readout shows the bore cycle with its measured values empty, and that out of tolerance the job stops. Callouts: the probe routine ships in the packet; WCS pickup and first-piece check; out of tolerance, the job stops.ADETAIL AP1P2P3P4PROBE · BORE · 4 PTCENTER X Y—DIAMETER—OUT OF TOLSTOP123
  1. Probe routine ships in the packetArtifact 09, tolerance limits built in
  2. WCS pickup and first-piece checkFour touches find the bore’s center and size
  3. Out of tolerance — the job stopsBack to first-piece hold, not an hour of scrap
Artifact 09: probe routines, tolerance limits built in.

Press ISSUE, and engineering comes to you.

Tap it at any stage. Central engineering arrives with the packet, the revision and your probe data already loaded. Issues are engineering failures by default, and the fix ships as a packet revision so it can’t repeat anywhere in the network.

Zero-point workholding, exploded: receiver, pull studs and palletAn isometric exploded view of a zero-point system. At the bottom, a receiver plate with four clamping modules is bolted to a section of machine table with T-slots. Above it, four pull studs line up over the receiver's clamping bores, and above them the pallet, a plate with a grid of tapped holes, is lifted clear. Dashed lines show the axes the studs and pallet drop along. Callouts: receiver on your table; pallet on the standard grid; four pull studs locate and clamp.ZERO-POINT · EXPLODEDXYZ123
  1. Receiver on your tableInstalled on your machine, financed against routed work
  2. Pallet on the standard gridParts are located and clamped off the machine
  3. Four pull studs locate and clampAt the spindle it’s a swap, not a re-indicate
Zero-point workholding of the class version 1 standardizes on.

Pallets come later. Financed, and earned.

Version 1 is one zero-point system — base plate, pallets, pull studs — installed on your machines and financed against routed work. You qualify through paid jobs, first-pass yield and your calendar record. You don’t front the money.

  • Setup drops toward pallet-swap time

    Parts are located and clamped off the machine. At the spindle it’s a swap, not a re-indicate.

  • Op-flips repeat to a published class

    Zero-point systems publish repeatability in the few-micron range. The second op inherits that, not how carefully someone re-clocked a vise.

  • Multi-part loading becomes schedulable

    Grid and tombstone loads become something the batching engine can plan. That’s what makes batched packets routable to you.

  • Your own work gets faster too

    The kit doesn’t know which jobs came from us. It speeds up everything that machine cuts.

Stay on version 0.1 as long as you like. No shop is ever de-listed for running jaws — pallet shops simply see the packets that need pallets.

How the financing works
For buyers

Send us a part

Upload a CAD file. We engineer it once, and every run after — at any shop in the network — is the same part. Catalog parts are priced in minutes; custom work is quoted within two business days.

Upload a partRead the guarantee
For shops

Paid from job one

No trial, no installation invoice, no fee to be considered. Tell us what you run, and we’ll tell you within two business days whether the network fits.

Apply as a shopHow the financing works