Built for IMTS 2026: A Fixture That Packs Four Systems Into One Setup

At its simplest, a fixture is anything that holds a workpiece in place while a machine cuts, drills, or shapes it. Get the fixture right, and a machine can do more work, faster, with less tending.

One of the fixtures we're bringing to IMTS 2026 is built to show what "getting it right" looks like when a few different systems work together. Here's what's in it, and what each piece is actually doing.

Carr Lane Tiny Vise® Wedge Clamps: Small Clamps, Big Holding Power

A wedge clamp uses an angled surface, essentially a wedge, to turn simple, straight-line pressure (like tightening a screw) into strong, even clamping force across two parts at once. The advantage is size: because the clamp does its job without needing to sit on top of the part, a Carr Lane Tiny Vise® keeps the machining surface completely open while still holding the part securely, all in a fraction of the footprint of a traditional vise.

Smaller clamps mean you can pack more parts onto the same fixture, leaving more clearance for the cutting tool to move around each one without hitting a clamp. On a fixture built for high part density, that's the difference between running one part per cycle and running several.

Stallion Lock Quick Change: Swapping Setups Without Losing Accuracy

Changing over from one job to the next usually means unbolting a fixture, mounting a new one, and re-positioning everything to make sure it's exactly where the machine expects it to be, which is usually what eats the most time.

Stallion Lock is our quick-change system, designed to remove that step. It uses thumb screws, which are designed to be grasped and turned easily by hand, without the need for tools. Our state-of-the-art design ensures consistent and accurate positioning every time, with repeatability within +/- 0.0005 inches.

KOMA Rotary: The Fourth Axis That Makes One Setup Do More

Most machining starts with a part sitting still while the tool moves around it in three directions: X, Y, and Z. A rotary table, like this one from Koma Precision, adds a fourth: the ability to spin the part itself to a new angle, without unclamping it and starting over.

That's the idea behind "4th-axis" machining. Instead of running one face, stopping, repositioning, and running the next, the rotary indexes the part to a new face and the machine keeps cutting.

TS1200-IB Braking: Holding Steady Under Heavy Cuts

Every rotary axis has some amount of built-in clamping to keep it from moving once it's indexed into position for light cuts. For heavy, off-center, or deep cuts, more helps.

The TS1200-IB is a braking system that adds up to 900 ft-lb of torque, up to five times the holding torque of a standard rotary brake, using an integrated hydraulic booster instead of extra external plumbing. It clamps down on the shaft in tandem with the rotary's own brake, so the fixture stays exactly where it's indexed even under demanding cuts.

See It Running at IMTS 2026

None of these four systems is doing something the others could substitute for. The wedge clamps hold the parts. The rotary presents new faces to the tool. The brake keeps everything still while it's cutting. The quick-change gets the whole assembly on and off the machine fast.

Put them together, and you get a fixture that can hold multiple parts, machine several faces per part without a manual reset, stay rigid under heavy cuts, and still be swapped for the next job in minutes, not hours.

We'll have this fixture running live at Booth 431348, West Building, all week. If you're trying to figure out how a setup like this could apply to what you're running now, stop by. That's exactly the conversation we're there to have!