Week 5:- Rest Unit & Clamp Unit Design Challenge

CLAMP UNIT AND REST UNIT DESIGN CHALLENGE

AIM

To design 3 Different types of Power Clamp Unit with Different Riser, Blade, and Clamp Arm and design 2 Different types of Rest Unit for the given Car Panel using CATIA V5.

INTRODUCTION

• A Clamp is a device that is used to hold the part tightly, yet, firmly in the assembly, The clamp prevents any sought of movement of the assembly in the fixture and ensures proper operation on the part without any distortion.
• The clamp must be placed in such a way that it does not interpret the operation.
• The clamp plan is the data provided by the customer. The clamp plan provides information on the location of pins, rest units, Clamp units, Dumps, etc.
• It gives the details of the exact position of the clamping locations in form of coordinates
• The clamp position in some cases will be in such a way that it might damage the tool, or very near to pin position. In such cases, We should not take the decision to change the clamp plan without discussing it with the customer.

TYPICAL PARTS OF A CLAMP UNIT

FINGER

• A Finger is an NC Block, Which is mounted on the Clamp arm of the cylinder, and will press the car panels towards the rest, so it holds the car panel.

REST

• Rest is an NC block, which is fixed to the unit to support the car panel, also it resists the clamping force of the finger, and thus clamps the car panel.

CLAMP ARM

• A Clamp arm is a bought-out part, to which all the movable parts are fixed. In general, a clamp arm is a part of a clamp cylinder.

CLAMP CYLINDER

• A Clamp Cylinder is a pneumatic device that works with pressurized air.
• The Clamp cylinder is used to open and close the parts fixed to the clamp arm fixed to the clamp body.
• Clamp arms are generally bought out parts.

3-2-1 PRINCIPLE

• The 3-2-1 method is a work-holding principle where three pins are located on the 1st principle plane, i.e. either  XY, YZ, ZX.
• And two pins are located on the 2nd plane which is perpendicular to the 1st plane, and at last one pin on the plane which is mutually perpendicular to the 1st and 2nd planes.
• The ultimate goal is to constrain the movement of the workpiece along all three axes.

DESIGN METHODOLOGY

• The designing process is started by giving a project title and proper structuring of the Specification tree.
• The standard pneumatic cylinders and Clamp arm which are the bought-out parts are downloaded from the Tunkers website and copied into the project.
• V-50-1-BR3-A40-T12 and APH-50-BR5-A40-T12 is used in this project.

• The Clamp mylars and rest mylars are designed and positioned in such a way that the movement of the car panel is restricted.
• The Clamp Mylars are attached to the clamp for the open and closing movement.

• Various sizes of shims are designed for the adjustment of the pin in multiple directions

• The risers are designed such that all the above parts are mounted on them.
• The risers are mounted to the base of the fixture

• After creating all the parts that are to be assembled are provided with holes and threaded holes.

IMAGES OF CLAMP UNIT 1,2,3

• The red part shows the open position of the clamp arm.

IMAGES OF CLAMP UNIT WITH GIVEN BASE

REST UNT

• The rest units are designed to support the car panels using Mylar.
• The primary purpose of the rest unit is to rest the car panel.

PARTS OF THE REST UNIT

• Mylar
• Blade
• Risers

MYLAR

• Mylar is the part that holds the panel from above and below during the operation.
• The top side of Mylar is called the clamping Mylar. Whereas, the bottom side Mylar is known as resting Mylar.
• Every Clamping Mylar will have a resting Mylar.
• It holds the panel in such a way that it does not deform during the welding process.
• The below image shows basic Clamping and Resting Mylar.

RISER

• A riser is a part that is used to raise the height of the fixture.
• The raiser is fixed to the base of the fixture and the blade is mounted on the riser
• There are two types of raisers 1.L type riser 2.Square Tube risers.

BLADE

• Blades are plates that are attached to the riser.

DESIGN METHODOLOGY OF REST UNIT

• The rest mylars are positioned below the panel in order to support them.

• L-block is designed to support the rest mylar with the riser.
• Shims are added between the Rest mylar and the riser
• The riser is designed in such a way that it supports the rest mylar.

IMAGES OF REST UNIT 1,2

• The above image shows the rest unit assembly with the car panel.

OVERALL MODEL OUTCOME

CONCLUSION

Hence, the Clamp unit and the rest units are designed for the given car panel as per the requirements.