Determination of contact points between workpiece and fixture elements as a tool for augmented reality in fixture design

Fixtures play a significant role in ensuring the quality of products in manufacturing engineering. The paper considers fork-type parts that have a complex spatial configuration and needs to be machined by drilling-milling-boring equipment in one setup. In fixture design, it is necessary to provide wide tool accessibility, and therefore the choice of locating surfaces of the workpiece is an important step. The mathematical approach for determining the coordinates of contact points between the workpiece and the locating and clamping elements fixtures in the coordinate system is developed in this paper. The geometric parameters of the workpiece are taken into account in determining the coordinates. It allows to apply the proposed approach for parts of another standard size, but the same design and technological features. The technology of augmented reality is an effective tool at the design stage of fixtures and allows to visualize the developed fixture configurations. This approach has been successfully applied for such parts as levers, connecting rods, flat parts.