Bolt Driving for Rapid Automation Deployment

Machine Builder Spotlight – Multi-Spindle Screwdriving

A beam clamp manufacturer began the process of fully automating their assembly process. They approached Visumatic to provide the feed and drive componentry for their machine build group.

The application was to feed and drive, one per cycle, a 3/8″ x 1.5″ long square head bolt to a required depth. The depth tolerance was fairly liberal at +/- 3 thread. Visumatic was able to use our standard on-board slide position sensor array to verify each drive depth.

The Beam Clamp assembly consisted of a stamped metal bar, square head bolt, and a retaining jam nut. The customer’s fixture design included an anti-rotational feature to locate and hold the nut while driving the bolt.

The overall footprint was kept to a minimum by utilizing our S-99 escapement which allows two fasteners to be deliver each cycle from a single feeder bowl. The customer integrated our twin spindle VPD2-54.2 Power Driver into their fully automated assembly machine.

The required production rate of 30 parts per minute was met by driving vertically down, independently installing each bolt simultaneously, and thereby complete a pair of clamp assemblies on each drive cycle. By relying on Visumatic’s expertise, the builder was able to speed deployment and focus their resources on providing the throughput and labor savings the plant was after.

See more integration examples on our multi-spindle screwdriving components page.