How to Determine the Right Assembly Equipment
Posted on 07/03/2019 | by The Orbitform Blog Team
Product design can be one of the most challenging tasks for an engineer. From multiple concepts through building prototypes, engineers take many steps to ensure their design meets functional and safety requirements. Once they’ve finalized their design with management’s approval, they now have to determine exactly how they’re going to assemble it.
There are many points to consider when determining the right assembly equipment:
• How many rivets or fasteners are required?
• How much floor space is available?
• How many parts do you need to make each year?
• How fast do you need to assemble each part?
• Do you need to support your part during assembly?
All these questions and more play a part in designing the right assembly equipment. With 30+ years of assembly experience, Orbitform's experts partner with manufacturers every day to meet these production requirements.
When cycle time and footprint are critical, custom assembly systems are often necessary. Orbitform's Milford impact riveting line includes modular riveting heads - the Milford Model 56, 57, and 58 - that are ideal for integrating into an assembly system. They have a space-saving wedge design that lends them perfectly for mounting in groups. These heads can be positioned as close as 1" together allowing multiple rivets to be formed simultaneously.
Many electronic manufacturers have turned to Orbitform for multi-riveting solutions. For one manufacturer, we have provided several systems to assemble circuit breaker housings. To meet their cycle time requirements, we designed a system with four riveting heads mounted onto a common base with a fixture slide. With this system, the operator will load the part onto the slide before activating the machine. The slide will then advance to the forming position and all four rivets will be installed simultaneously. This increased the number of parts produced per hour, while keeping the machine within a 60” x 40” footprint.
Orbitform has also provided multi-hit riveting machines to assemble longer items, such as shovels and garage rails. For these manufacturers, we mounted multiple riveting heads on a longer base to support the part during forming. Our engineering department reviewed the part models to design each system, ensuring the riveting heads were mounted in the proper place to form all rivets at the same time.
When your parts require multiple rivets, there is a lot to take into consideration. Footprint, cycle time, part support, and annual volumes all factor into designing your equipment. Partnering with Orbitform's assembly experts ensures you get the right solution. Contact us today to start your next assembly project.