Jigs and Fixtures
3D printed jigs and fixtures improve accuracy, repeatability, and efficiency in manufacturing and assembly processes. They are lightweight, durable, and can be produced quickly to match specific production needs. This enables tailored solutions that reduce lead times and enhance overall process consistency.
Advantages
Smarter parts, fewer limits.
Jigs and fixtures can go from CAD to physical tool in hours or days instead of weeks, so lines get support hardware much sooner. Design tweaks are simple file changes, enabling rapid iteration as parts or processes evolve without expensive rework.
Additive manufacturing allows complex, part-specific geometries with integrated locators, clamps, labels, and cable routing that are hard or impossible to machine. Lightweight, topology‑optimized designs improve ergonomics for operators, reducing fatigue while maintaining precision and repeatability.
3D printed jigs and fixtures avoid costly machining setups and tooling, cutting typical jig costs by large margins and reducing material waste. Tools can be produced on demand from a digital library, minimizing inventory and allowing quick replacement if something breaks on the shop floor.
Possibilities
These tools help operators place parts quickly and consistently during manual or semi-automated assembly. Examples include nests that locate housings for screw insertion, fixtures with integrated stops and pins for aligning brackets, or guides that hold connectors in the correct orientation during cable assembly.
Inspection fixtures ensure that parts are checked in a repeatable way, improving measurement speed and reliability. Typical use cases are CMM nests that reference critical datums, go/no-go gauges for quick dimensional checks, or visual inspection frames that hold parts at defined angles under cameras or scanners.
In joining and machining processes, jigs and fixtures stabilize parts and maintain geometry under load, heat, or cutting forces. Examples include welding fixtures that clamp sheet metal or tubes in position, bonding jigs that align multiple components during curing, or lightweight machining supports that hold plastic or composite parts in place without marring their surfaces.
Materials
Stratasys® ULTEM™ 1010 is a high-performance polyetherimide (PEI) thermoplastic filament designed for FDM 3D printing, offering exceptional strength, heat resistance, and chemical stability ideal for demanding industrial applications. ULTEM™ 1010 exhibits a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 217°C, high tensile strength up to 79 MPa (XY orientation), and low thermal expansion for dimensional stability.
ULTEM™ 1010 pairs exceptionally well with the Stratasys® F900™, leveraging the printer's large build volume, high-temperature chamber, and advanced thermal controls to produce robust jigs and fixtures with minimal distortion. On the F900™, ULTEM™ 1010 delivers autoclavable tooling with HDT over 212°C at 24 psi, outperforming ULTEM™ 9085 by 40% in heat resistance for composite layups and automotive assembly fixtures.
Materials
Stratasys FDM Nylon 12CF is a carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide 12 (PA12) thermoplastic filament with 35% chopped carbon fiber by weight, delivering the highest flexural strength and stiffness-to-weight ratio among FDM materials for robust jigs and fixtures. Nylon 12CF offers tensile strength up to 77.5 MPa (XZ orientation at 0.25 mm layer height), flexural modulus of 10.3 GPa, and Izod impact strength of 85 J/m, ensuring lightweight yet rigid tooling under mechanical stress.
Stratasys FDM Nylon 12CF performs outstandingly on the Fortus F900, harnessing the printer's large build volume, heated chamber up to 90°C, and high-flow extrusion system to produce high-strength jigs and fixtures with exceptional consistency and minimal anisotropy.
Materials
Stratasys® ABS-ESD7 is an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic infused with carbon for electrostatic dissipative (ESD) properties, making it ideal for jigs and fixtures in electronics manufacturing. It prevents static buildup, avoiding discharges that could damage sensitive components or attract dust and particles during assembly. Surface resistivity falls between 10⁷ to 10⁹ ohms/sq, effectively dissipating static charges without full conductivity, protecting electronic components like circuit boards during jig-guided assembly.
ABS-ESD7 performs outstanding when printed on the Stratasys® F900™. It utilizes the printer’s large build volume, precision, and material compatibility to produce high-quality, ESD-safe jigs and fixtures. ESD performance remains reliable regardless of orientation or geometry, making it superior for static-safe handling tools in sensitive environments.
Materials
Stratasys® PA12 GF is a glass-filled nylon powder specifically developed for high-performance powder bed applications, ideally suited for durable jigs and fixtures. With a glass fill content of approximately 40%, the material achieves very high stiffness, excellent dimensional stability, and an elevated heat deflection temperature of over 100 °C, showing virtually no warping or creep even under load. These properties make PA12 GF particularly well suited for clamping fixtures, assembly gauges, inspection gauges, and other manufacturing aids that must withstand repeated mechanical stress, elevated temperatures, and harsh production environments. At the same time, its significantly lower shrinkage compared to standard PA12 ensures tight tolerances and precise mating surfaces — critical for accurate positioning and reproducible results in jigs and fixtures.
Combined with the Stratasys® H350™, which relies on SAF powder bed fusion, PA12 GF fully realizes its advantages: the machine delivers highly uniform energy input and thus consistently stable part properties across the entire build volume, thanks to precise thermal process control. The H350™ offers an effective build volume of 315 × 208 × 293 mm (19.2 liters) at a layer thickness of 100 µm and is specifically designed for series production, allowing large quantities of functional parts and fixtures to be produced in a single build job.
Materials
Printable with
PTG PA12 is a high-performance polymer with a dry density of 1,020 kg/m³, median particle size of 58 µm, and melting temperature of 187°C – delivering superior detail fineness, surface resolution, and excellent chemical resistance. Available in white and black, it is well suited for functional prototypes, individual components, and series production.
A variety of printers, including Nexa3D®'s QLS 230, QLS 236, QLS 260, QLS 820 and Raise3D’s RMS220 can print this material with precision without the use of supports, allowing you to design complicated structures.
Materials
Printable with
Use Cases
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