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The focus of this technical paper is a unique automatic fastening system configuration for loading, positioning & unloading pre-tacked door assemblies within a static C-Frame Drivmatic® fastening machine using an off-the-shelf, high accuracy Fanuc robot. In 2011, PMC was awarded a significant contract for supplying commercial OEM aircraft doors and recognized automation was the most feasible approach for fastening each door assembly. At the time of contract award, PMC was an established aero structure supplier with significant automation capability for machining high tolerance parts & assemblies and manual fastening resources to support many different OEM programs however PMC did not have automatic fastening experience or capability. In support of this new Tier-2 contract, PMC reached out to Gemcor to propose a collaborative robot solution for automatically fastening 5 different door assemblies that were historically fastened using a semi-automatic configuration.

This technical paper details an optimized Drivmatic machine design delivered to a Tier 1 aero structure supplier to automate drilling and installation of rivets, hi-loks, lockbolts & swage collars for individual fuselage panel assemblies with high throughput & strict quality requirements. While certain robot solutions continue to be explored for specific applications at many Tier 1 aero structure suppliers, robot payload capacity has limitations beyond certain criteria, which often times point towards an alternative machine design as in this case study. A typical approach for adding more automation is to allocate shop floor space based on the solution’s foot print, however contrary to most approaches this solution had to be designed to fit within a pre-determined factory footprint over a geographic location with a high water table that would not permit a foundation.

The following is a unique case study expounding on automatic fastening technology designed and engineered to ramp up a Tier 2 supplier that had no experience with automatic fastening, to efficiently produce a large volume of fuselage panel assemblies with demanding process requirements in a very short amount of time. The automation technology integrated for the skin to stringer & skin to window frame fastening were two GEMCOR G12 five-axis CNC All-Electric fastening systems coupled with a Cenit offline part programming system. This joint solution served as a launch vehicle for Center Industries to efficiently supply the full rate of fuselage panel assemblies for a large volume commercial aircraft program without having any automatic riveting experience.

Bombardier faced new manufacturing process challenges drilling and fastening CSeries* aircraft panels with multi-material stacks of composite (CFRP), titanium and aluminum in which Gemcor responded with a unique, flexible CNC Drivmatic® automatic fastening system, now in production at Bombardier. This joint technical paper is presented by Bombardier, expounding on manufacturing process challenges with the C Series aircraft design requirements and Gemcor presenting a unique solution to automatically fasten CFRP aft fuselage panels and aluminum lithium (Al Li) cockpit panels with the same CNC Drivmatic® system. After installation and preliminary acceptance at Bombardier, the CNC system was further enhanced to automatically fasten the carbon fiber pressure bulkhead dome assembly.