ABOUT BIW WELDING FIXTURE PROCESSES

1)Want to design your biw weld fixture?

If you want to design biw welding fixture you need to know about jigs and
fixtures and design them, then you can create a biw welding fixture.

The jig &fixture design planning study solutions to help you quickly define
and evaluate your design concepts. The site describes the process to help
you do everything correctly the first.

The whole process is divided into two sections:

Jig and fixture design
Biw welding fixture design

2)Jig and fixture design

A fixture is a device for locating, holding and supporting a work piece

during a manufacturing operation.

Jigs are similar to fixtures, but they not only locate and hold the part but
also guide the cutting tools in drilling and boring operations. In the design
of a jig and fixture, a definite sequence of design stages is involved.

They can be grouped into three broad:

Locating methods
Locating principals
Clamping principals

Stage One deals with information about locate the work piece surfaces for
performing a machining operation.

Stage Two involves the consideration of basic principal of locating is

referencing and repeatability.

Stage Three is the Locating and preventing movements of the work piece
is the first basic function of a jig or fixture.
3)Biw welding fixture design

The body of a vehicle is made up of several hundreds of stamped

components which are joined together by spot welding process, accurate
production of the car body (BIW) is essential if the automated assembly
line is to fit parts within the required tolerance, therefore we use the
welding fixture.

Design a welding fixture is a complex process including:

Production process of body in white
Clamping plan

We can use a number of fixture unit types in welding fixture design, based
on clamping plan.

For more detailed information on how to create a biw welding fixture and
then 3d modeling of it and design detailing it, look through this site.
4)JIGS & FIXTURES

We can use of jigs & fixtures for locating, holding, supporting of a

workpiece during manufacturing operations.

A jig is a small contrivance fastened to or inclosing a piece of work, and

having hard steel surfaces to guide a tool, as a drill, or to form a shield or
template to work to, as in filing.

Machining jig is a device used to hold firmly and to locate firmly the work
pieces and to guide machining tool accurately to the work pieces.
Generally drilling, boring, loathe, milling, sawing, broaching shaping,
planning, grinding are classified in this category.

A fixture is a device for locating, holding and supporting a workpiece during

a manufacturing operation. Fixtures must correctly locate a work piece in a
given orientation with respect to a cutting tool or measuring device, or with
respect to another component, as for Instance in assembly or welding.

Generally jigs and fixtures are similar together, jigs not only locate and
hold the part but also guide the cutting tools in drilling and boring
operations, but fixtures are a device which has the function of holding and
locating of work piece.

Elements of Fixtures

Generally, all the jigs& fixtures consist of the following elements:

Locating elements
Clamping elements
Supporting elements

Locating Elements
Locating elements are used to establish and maintain the position of a
workpiece by constraining the movement of the workpiece.These position
the workpiece accurately with respect to the supporting elements tool in
the jigs& fixtures.

A locating element is usually a fixed component and is used to establish,

maintain the position of a part by constraining the movement of the part.
For workpieces of greater variability in shapes and surface conditions, a
locator can also be adjustable.

Clamping Elements
Clamping elements hold the workpiece securely in the located position
during operation. A clamp is a force-actuating mechanism. The forces
exerted by the clamps hold a part securely against all other external
forces.

Supporting Elements

For prevent or constrain deformation of workpiece under the action of

imposed clamping and processing forces, supporting elements are added
and placed below the workpiece. A support is a fixed or adjustable element
of a jigs and fixtures, but it should be compatible with the locating elements
and clamping elements.
5)LOCATING METHODES

One of the principal purposes of a machining jigs and fixtures is to locate

the workpiece surfaces for performing a machining operation.
A workpiece, just like any free solid body, have twelve degrees of freedom,
the six axial degrees of freedom and six radial degrees of freedom.

To accurately locate a workpiece in a jigs and fixtures, movements must be

restricted. This is done with locators so they must be strong enough to
maintain the position of the workpiece and to resist the cutting forces.

During a setup it is necessary for the motion of workpiece to restrict in all

these motions positively. You must be able to accurately locate each
workpiece regardless of how it is made. To do this, you must know the
locating method and the type of locators.

There are three methods for locating of workpiece:

Locating from external surface
Locating from internal surface
Locating from an external profile

Locating from external surface

Locating from a flat surface of workpiece is common locating from external

surface and it is a form of plane location.

You can use supports for this purpose. Before choosing a support, you
must consider the shape and surface of the workpiece and the type of
clamping device for selecting the type of support, because its must be
strong enough to resist both the clamping pressure and the cutting forces.

There is three type of support:

Solid
Adjustable
Equalizing

The other way to locate a workpiece from external surface is the 3-2-1, or
six-point, location method. This way is most commonly employed. With this
method, six individual locators reference and restrict the workpiece.

For achieving greatest stability (based on the geometry principle that three
points are needed to fully define a plane) the primary, locating surface is
positioned on three points should be as far apart as possible or as large as
possible. For larger cast workpieces, the 4-2-1 locating principle is
frequently used.

Locating from internal surface

One of the most-efficient ways to accurately position is locating a

workpiece from an internal diameter, individual holes or whole patterns are
used for this form of location.

When you use of this an internal diameter, you should consider the logical
to use holes. It is nine of the twelve directions of movement are restricted
by using a single pin, and eleven directions of movement are restricted
with two pins.

Each pin prevents any movement along X and Y directions (4 DOF

restricted) for prevent of rotation around the X and Y axes, you use of
round pin with the diamond pin. In use, the round pin prevents any
movement of workpiece along X and Y directions and the diamond pin
prevent the workpiece to rotate around the X and Y axes.

Locating from an external profile

Locating a workpiece from an external profile, or outside edge, is the most

common method of locating.

Profile locators position the workpiece in relation to an outside edge or the

outside of a detail, such as a hub or a boss.

Nesting is the most accurate locating device for profile location and it is
very expensive, because nest must conform to the shape of the workpiece.

When you need to locate round shafts or other workpieces with cylindrical
sections, you can use the vee-block locator and it should be adjusted
along the axis of V for more accurate location by a screw or cam.
6)FORM OF LOCATORS AND SUPPORTS

Referencing is done by using locators and supports. Referencing means to

ensure precision the workpiece properly positioned with respect to the
cutting tool.
The locators provide restrict a workpiece's movement and must hold the
workpiece against the primary cutting forces.

Locators are used to properly position the work piece and supports for
locating workpiece external surface.

There are three general forms of locators:

Plane
Concentric
Radial

Plane

Plane locators locate a workpiece from external surfaces. The surface may
be flat, curved, or have an irregular contour. Locating from a flat surface is
a form of plane location.

Concentric

Concentric locators locate a workpiece from a central axis. This axis may
or may not be in the center of the workpiece such as a locating pin placed
in a hole.

Radial

Radial locators restrict the movement of a workpiece around a concentric

locator.

Before choosing a support, you must consider the shape and surface of
the workpiece and the type of clamping device to be used.

The support selected must be strong enough to resist both the clamping
pressure and the cutting forces. Supports are the principal devices used
for this location.

The three major forms of supports are:

Solid
 Adjustable
Equalizing

Solid

This type of support is fixed-height locators and you can use such as rest
buttons. Solid support precisely locates a surface in one axis and is
normally used when a machined surface acts as a locating point.

Adjustable

This type of support is variable-height locators and they will also precisely
locate a surface in one axis. Adjustable locators are normally used with
one or more solid locators to allow any adjustment needed to level the
workpiece.

When the surface is rough or uneven, such as cast or forged workpieces,

these supports are used.

Equalizing

This type of support is a form of adjustable support. When a compensating

support is required, you can use adjustable support.
This support is float to accommodate workpiece variations and used along
with solid supports.

7)LOCATING PRINCIPALES

Basic principal of locating is referencing and repeatability. To ensure

precision in any machining operation, the workpiece must be properly
positioned with respect to the cutting tool or other tools. This is called
referencing.

Repeatability is the characteristic of the jigs and fixtures that allows

different workpiece to be machined consistently within their required
tolerances.

Repeatability is directly related to accurate location, so to achieve this

purpose, the locators must be contact the workpiece on a machined
surface.

You must keep the following principal of workpiece locating in mind while
designing the jig and fixture:
A workpiece, just like any free solid body, have twelve degrees of freedom,
the six axial degrees of freedom and six radial degrees of freedom The
location system should prevent all motions of the workpiece along and
around the three major axes X, Y, Z.
Location should be done on the surfaces of workpiece which have the
most accurate surface. A machined surface is subjected to the action of
cutting tools.
We must use of surfaces datum for locating the workpiece while
machining operation, the location has to meet dimensional requirements of
the workpiece stated on the component drawing , where the dimensions
are maintained and measured.
Clamping surfaces of workpiece are subjected to the clamping forces for
obtaining invariant location. You can use surfaces are usually not finish-
machined surfaces as clamping marks could damage the finish.
Location system should facilitate easy and quick loading of the workpiece,
in case of use redundant locators for fixing surface, workpiece distortion
due to redundant location when work piece is unclamped. Under such
circumstance, the redundant location should be replaced by an adjustable
support illustrated.
You can use a locating system for prevent wrong loading of the workpiece
by using a foolproofing. This wrong loading can be prevented by providing
a foolproofing pin which would obstruct the path of the work piece. You
ensure that the workpiece will fit into the jig and fixture only in its correct
position by foolproofing.
You always avoided using the duplicate locators, because they not only
costs more but also could cause inaccuracies.
8)CLAMPING PRINCIPLES

Locating and preventing movement's of the workpiece is the first basic

function of a jig or fixture.

The process of holding the position of the workpiece is called clamping

and it is done by clamps.

The locators should resist the primary cutting forces generated by the
operation and the clamps should resist the secondary cutting forces
generated by the cutter leaves the workpiece.

The only purpose of clamps is:

holding the workpiece against the locators
preventing movement of the workpiece
resisting the primary cutting forces

In every machining operation, it is necessary that to provide a suitable

locking for achieving the stability of location, so the system clamping is an
essential requirement.

The system clamping is producing a sufficient clamping force, but without

causing any undesirable effects to the workpiece and the clamping
elements hold the workpiece.

The principal objectives of the clamping elements are the creation and
retention of locking effect against external loads.

The other considerations of clamping principles done with respect to a

number of factors to be considered such as:
Position
Strength
Productivity

Position

All the system clamping can be defined as a device for providing a stability
of location which can not be changed during machining operation. Hence,
the clamping force should be transmitted on a strong supported part of the
workpiece and the system clamping should be positioned to direct the
clamping force.

The clamping force must be absorbed by the locating elements.

Positioning the clamps at the most-rigid points of the workpiece, in order to

hold the workpiece against the locators and to resist any secondary forces
generated in the operation, so the clamps need only be large enough.
Another consideration in positioning clamps is the operation of the
machine tool throughout the machining cycle.

The clamping system should not be abstract the path of loading and
unloading of the workpiece and the path of the cutting tool.

Most clamps are positioned on or near the top surface of the workpiece.
You should use minimum height of the clamp by the type of clamp with a
lower profile.

The size of the clamp-contact area and the overall size of the clamp are
another factor in positioning a clamp.

Strength

The machining operation is producing loads or moments on the workpiece,

the clamping system should be capable of holding the workpiece with
respect to an external force such as the vibration and stress.

The clamping force should not dent the workpiece such as distortion or
surface damage with excessive pressure.

Surface damage is often caused by clamps with hardened or non-rotating

contact surfaces. Use clamps with rotating contact pads or with softer
contact material to reduce this problem.

Calculations of clamping force are complicated however, an approximate

determination of these values is sufficient.

The clamping force should be consisted to meet the workpiece conditions,

so you can use manual clamp for controlling clamping force or to replace
manual clamps with power clamps.

The force generated by power clamps is not only constant but also
adjustable to suit workpiece conditions and faster than manual clamps.

Productivity
It is also essential that to reduce the overall set-up and non-machining
time, so the clamping devices must be easy to aligning, manipulate
manually, low coast and simultaneous loading.

The speed of clamping and unclamping is usually the most-important

factor in keeping loading/unloading time to a minimum.

If there is variation in the workpiece, it is also essential that the system

clamping to make the clamp operable.
9)TYPE OF CLAMPS

It is necessary for the clamping forces to hold the workpiece in its located
position without any positional displacement under these forces. So, the
force should be transmitted to the rigid sections of the body frame of the jig
and fixture.

In addition, the force should be directed with respect to supporting and

locating elements on overhanging or thin sections of the workpiece, so the
clamping force must be large enough to restrain the workpiece motion
completely during machining.

However, excessive clamping force can effective on location and quality of

workpiece. Hence, it is necessary to determine the optimum clamping
forces that minimize the workpiece location error due to elastic
deformation while satisfying the total restraint requirement.

Clamping elements can be classified in accordance with their force

characteristics. They may be either manually operated or actuated by
pneumatic, hydraulic or a combination of other power facilities. Clamping
elements are also classified according to the mechanism.
The three basic classes include:
Operating by inclined plane theory, i.e. wedges, screws, cams, etc.
Operating by lever principle, i.e. levers, toggles, etc.
Operating by Pneumatic / hydraulic power

Manual clamping of workpieces has the following disadvantages:

Fatigue of operator due to manual clamping
Difficult to determine the required force
Varying force for clamping of each workpiece
 Require time to actuate manual clamping is more than power clamping

Pneumatic and hydraulic clamping of workpieces has the following

advantages:
Variable-force clamping
Controlling the intensity of the clamping force during a machining
operation
Reduce workpiece deformation
A balance between cost, efficiency, accuracy, operator safety and
comfort

10)BIW WELDING FIXTURE DESIGN

No matter what your knowledge about fixture design, you use the following
stages in design of your BIW weld fixture:
Study and understanding of process
Concept design
Create 3D-Modeling
You study your process

You start design by study production process of body-in-white (BIW) this

process provides valuable information for the design phase.</TD< tr>
The purpose of study BIW process includes the following:

The special focus on the structure of a body (BIW) enables you to find the
logic and flow of body panels, and the relationships between them.
The select of master control point, which are holes or surfaces related to
your body part & assembly to arrive at the dimensional integrity of the BIW
by giving the steel parts in the correct position during joining.
The analyzing of body is made up of several hundreds of stamped
components which are joined together by spot welding with welding gun for
understanding of welding points and allocate them to welding operations.
Study of cycle time diagrams, for check reach ability and optimizing it. Cycle
time is estimating the required working time for each station.

You create your concept design based on process study

Now you can use of process study for defining the design criteria and
finding or verifying the concepts.

The welding fixture design is created with the following steps:

The clamping plans for accurate positioning of components, while the
components are aligned to a suitable plane for welding they are designed
in the carline plane (as in BIW).
Design of the weld fixture is unit based on clamping plan, therefore there
are a number of fixture unit types used in the welding fixtures for the
purpose of each unit and due to the complexity and shape of the
component geometry, the choice of elements as well as configuration of
each unit tends to change from case to case.
The check of weld accessibility and spot weld for unrestricted access to
each weld point, before and after the fixture design, the accessibility of the
weld guns to all the spot points can be simulated and studied thoroughly to
avoid guns colliding with other fixture elements.

You create 3D Modeling fixture

You need knowledge and experience in 3D Modeling software for creating

3D-Model and 2D drafting, detailing & 3D concept design.

The 3D Modeling becomes the basic for following item:

Create 3D Modeling of the weld fixture for visualizing the entire fixture in a
three-dimensional environment.
3D Modeling of weld fixture generated by cad software, which lets you
detect collisions, check reach ability spot weld and carry out weld
accessibility study for ensuring your fixture efficiency.
The 3D CAD Model of weld fixture unit enables you to make CAD Model of
clamp location plan for ensuring that plan problems and waste are
discovered before your fixture drawing to send for manufacturing.
By 3D Modeling of weld fixture, you can quickly prepare manufacturing
drawings.
11)PRODUCTION PROCESS OF BODY-IN-WITHE (BIW)

In the study phase of planning process you find or verify the concepts of
the body-in-white manufacturing process. For design welding fixture, trying
to understand processes is essential. It is starting with process logic and
flow, and defines the relationships between operations.

The process study is a solution that to help you quickly define and
evaluate process to arrive at the best plan for designing your fixture. The
result is process study containing a full description of how a product is
assembled, manufactured and increases your profitability by improving
critical success factors in your fixture design.

The process study allows designer to leverage and optimize existing

resources and to better integrate the designing process from beginning to
end can not only help designer create fixture faster, but you can also begin
design earlier in the overall cycle or even start later, in order to
accommodate unanticipated changes.

The Assembly Process studying allows evaluating alternatives,

coordinating resources, optimizing throughput, plan for multiple variants,
implement changes and estimate costs and cycle times, from the very
early stages of concept planning through process.

Studying, Analyzing and Managing Manufacturing Processes enables you

to collaboratively plan and analyzing manufacturing processes for your
fixture. You can create optimal design and accommodate multiple plan
variations, quicker and faster than ever before.

Process study provides a collaborative environment for planning designing

processes. A broad range of applications enable you to define and verify
body assembly sequences, create clamping plan layout, define the
required time for each operation, verify plan performance, perform plan
balancing and analyze of spot welding and guns.

The body-in-white Manufacturing Process includes:

Automotive body assembly

Electric resistance welding
Cycle time diagrams

Automotive body assembly

The major process of an automotive body is electric resistance welding.

Resistance welding is a group of fusion welding processes that use a
combination of heat and pressure to accomplish coalescence and where
electric resistance welding is not applicable ,CO2,ARC WELDING and
MIG-BRAZING are performed.

The body of automotive is made up of several hundreds of stamped

components which are joined together by spot welding process.

Overall quality of the car body (BIW) and quality of the sub assemblies,
apart from quality of each stamped part, depends remarkably on quality of
the welded joint.

You should study of part joining, welding operations such as spot-welding

and define welding points and allocate them to welding operations.

The study of welding process can be classified as follow:

The number of welding spot
The position and volume number of welding spot
The type of welding gun
The material and sheet metal thickness for setting of welding condition
Cycle time diagrams

The cycle time is estimating the required working time of each station.

Cycle time study is based on the information such as:

Part loading
Clamping
Gun forward
Welding
Gun retract
Unclamping
Part unloading
12)RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING

Resistance welding process is one of the most productive and reliable

assembly processes. It is a method in which faying surfaces are joined by
melting the two parts.
Resistance Welding process that use a combination of heat by electrical
resistance and pressure by electrode force to accomplish coalescence the
two parts to be joined.

Components in Resistance Spot Welding are:

Parts to be welded (usually sheet metal) Two opposing electrodes
Means of applying pressure to squeeze parts between electrodes
Power supply from which a controlled current can be applied for a
specified time duration

(a)Spot welding cycle and (b) plot of squeezing force & current in cycle:

(1) parts inserted between electrodes

(2) electrodes close, force applied
(3) current on
(4) current off
(5) electrodes opened

Advantages and disadvantages of resistance welding include:

Advantages:

No filler metal required

High production rates possible
Lends itself to mechanization and automation
Lower operator skill level than for arc welding
Good repeatability and reliability

Disadvantages:

High initial equipment cost

Limited to lap joints for most resistance welding processes

Spot welding method

Resistance Spot Welding is one of the type resistance welding processes

that used to join sheet metal parts using a series spot welds and widely
used in mass production of automobiles, the spot welding include:
 Principal of spot welding
Structure & function of spot welding machine
Conditions of spot welding
Inspection method of weld

Principal of spot welding

Spot welding is to join lapped metals by holding them together by

electrodes, applying an appropriate pressure, Feeding enormous current,
heating and melting.

The generation of heat at welded spot is based on joules law. The rate at
which heat is produced by a steady current in any part of an electric circuit
is jointly to the resistance and the square of the current.

The degree of current flow depends on current density. The contact

resistance is the resistance of contact part of two steel plates is magnified,
a lot of projection can be seen contacting one another.

The larger amount of heat generation due to low weld pressure can not
lead to a good weld.

The expulsion of molten metal by higher current density is a result of

insufficient weld pressure and eventually it produces spattering, so proper
weld pressure is needed.

Structure & function of spot welding machine

Types of a spot welding machines are divided to two categories:

- Classification by their form such as:

Pedestal
Portable spot welder
- Classification by circuit in which the welding current flows such as: direct
and indirect type, series type, push pull type
The functions of the spot welder include:
Transformer
 Air cylinder
Timer conductor
Olier. Air filte
Pressure gauge

Conditions of spot welding

The most common factors of spot welding are related to the joules law,
they are:
Weld pressure
Weld current
Weld time

Inspection method of weld

There are some kinds of methods helps inspection of weld:

-Nondestructive methods are to find the pass or reject of the welding by

examining the surface of the weld zone
- Destructive methods are :
Tension-shear strength test
Tension strength test
Twist test
Driver check
13)PORTABLE WELDING GUN

Almost all of the automotive body parts are assembled by resistance spot
welding.

A spot welder consists of a transformer to obtain a large welding current,

timer to control the time in which to feed the current, electrodes to hold
welded articles, pressurizing cylinder to apply the necessary for the
material being welded.

Secondary cable lets necessary current through transformer flow to gun,

spring balancer to lighten the welding gun and the cable.

Resistance spot welding is passed between two copper electrodes, the

process can be performed by the operator holding a portable welding
machine and moving it around the parts being welded.

These portable machines called portable welding guns. The manual weld
guns can have easy access to weld the components together.

The resistance spot welding machines are classified according to

combinations of individual sections as follows:

Fixed type
Stud type
Portable type:
Conventional weld gun
Integral weld gun

Conventional weld gun

Conventional weld guns have a large transformer located remotely from

the weld gun. The welding current is delivered to the weld gun arms
through a large, water-cooled secondary cable.

J type or C type
S type or X type

The conventional weld guns were used in various applications because the
weld controllers did not have the ability to detect and react to any hazard
associated with using primary power connected directly to the weld gun.

Integral weld gun

Integral weld gun or tarn's guns have a smaller transformer located right
on the weld gun, from which the current is delivered through short jumpers
or shunts that are air cooled.
Tran's guns are also called weld guns, because the transformer is part of
the unit.

The two configurations of portable tarn's guns are:

C gun
 Scissors gun

For example C gun for welding around a door opening on a small flange
and Scissors gun for welding large, deep boxes requiring a long reach.

There are following characterizes for tarn's guns:

Design
Flexibility
Ergonomics
Cost efficiency
14)BODY IN WHITE OR BIW

In process of an automotive body manufacturing, what is called the Body

In White refers to the stage in automotive design or automobile
manufacturing in which the car body sheet metal components has been
assembled by welding before the moving parts such as, Door, Hood
(Bonnet) and Trunk Lid, Front Fender and the components (chassis,
motor) and trim (windshields, seats, upholstery, electronics, etc.) have
been added.

The body coordinate system has been widely used in the automotive
industry for drawing of body parts, product and process design.

A coordinate system is a reference system consisting of a set of points,

lines and surfaces, used to define the positions of points in space in either
two or three dimensions.

The origin of the body coordinate system (OY) is defined at the front center
of a vehicle, its indicates a length of car and the coordinate system (OZ) is
below its underbody indicates height of car and the coordinate system
(OX), its starting point is the center of car body indicates width of car.

The method of entering dimensions using coordinate lines used for the
drawing of the car bodies. The individual coordinate line is referred to as
the numbered line the spacing between numbered lines shall be, as a rule,
100 mm.

BIW is included in the following parts:

Under body
Upper body
Under body

Under body forms the basis of Body In White, it is involving sub-assembly

of engine room, front room and rear floor which put together and
assembled through each small parts.

Upper body

The Upper Body is composed of Sub-complete assemblies such as Side

Frame (body) L/R, Roof Panel, Cowl & Dash and Package Tray.

Main body

Main body is the core production of automotive body manufacture to

assembly (weld) and set Under Body and Upper Body is included Side
Body, Cowl & Dash, Package Tray and Roof Panel.

MASTER CONTROL POINT

In generally master control point is determined to confirm the productivity

and quality of the Body- In-White.

System reliability of the BIW assembly process, parts precision and

constancy of qualities and to carry out problem solving are the key factors
affecting the system of mass production early and economically of the
BIW.

In BIW assembly processes, body quality is generally defined by the

dimensional accuracy of the stable points on the body parts, these points
include the locating holes used for part locating and the points whose
dimensional accuracy is specified in the body design.

The measurements of these points are treated as the body characteristics

in a BIW assembly process.

A body planning designer decides master control point with a die engineer
and a body designer when a body designer draws body master drawing.
The below conditions are decided to be master control point:
The most important function area of the assembly part or the single part
The area which requires the accuracy of the location and the shape
The area which is hard to deform and easy to fix

Kind of master control point & function

Surface
Hole
Edge

Surface

Following the parts surface can be reference:

Plane surface
Shape surface
Flange surface
Seat surface

There are two kind of reference surface:

Main reference for stability in parts
Auxiliary reference for improve in parts in order to control deformation by
welding or equipment

Hole

Following the parts hole can be reference:

Circle hole
Longitudinal hole
Angled hole
Burring hole

There are two kind of reference hole:

Main reference for stability in parts
Auxiliary reference for protection of pin in parts

Edge

Following the parts edge can be reference:

 Straight edge
Curved edge

There are two kind of reference edge:

Main reference for stability in parts
Auxiliary reference for improve in parts in order to control deformation by
welding or equipment

15)BIW WELDING FIXTURE UNIT

BIW welding fixtures are used for holding the sheet metal or part assembly
together in space while the components are sometimes aligned to a
convenient the car-line plane of BIW for robotic or manual weld guns can
have easy access to weld the components together. So, designing a fixture
in this plane is often a complex process, considering the variations in
coordinate systems and basic rules such as maintaining few elements in
specific orientations.

There is deformation of body assembly due to the welding process effect

and resulting variation due to part dimensional variation, when you are
designing a fixture you should eliminate them and another objective is
achieving body quality within the required tolerances, so you can achieve
this purpose by planning location layout.

Location layout is the selection of the positions and numbers of locators

and clamps for assembly of fixture components into a final configuration on
a fixture base.

Designing a welding fixture is based on the location layout. It involves

numbers of fixture units and due to the complexity and shape of the
component geometry, the choice of elements as well as configuration of
each unit tends to change from case to case.

Fixture unit to hold the body parts securely and composed of following
item:
Locating pin
Locating surface
Clamping device
Base
Locating pin

Typically, the locating pins are used to lock a body part in a position
sufficiently accurate to execute a welding process.

The body part is constrained by a set of appropriately locating pin so total

constraint by locating pin should be fully constrained at all times to prevent
any movement.

Usually two locating pins are enough to properly locate the body part on
one plane. One of the pins is round, and another one is diamond shaped.
This configuration will allow easier loading of body part.

The end of each pin has a round or conical shape or is chamfered for the
purpose of maintaining workability such as ease of loading and quality
such as prevention of damage.

The taper lead angle is large, 60 degrees or less, for small-size body parts
and manual operation, but it is frequently between10 and 30 degrees for
large-size body parts that are difficult to handle.

The difference between the locate hole in the panel or body part and the
locating pin diameter should be 0.2 mm and a tolerance for locating pin
should be 0,+0.05.

The dimension from the panel to the locating pin leading end (straight
area) should be 5 mm.

Locating pins are available in numerous shapes and sizes in a design.

There are two configurations for position of locating pin:

Keep two dowel pins for positioning as far apart from each other as
possible
Set the dowel pins in symmetrical positions

Locating surface
One of the principal purposes of a locating surface is to locate and support
the panel surfaces for performing a welding process. This is usually done
with the datum surfaces that are reference for locating surface.

The dimensions of datum surface are decided by selecting a necessary

cross-section from the part drawing.

The shape of locating surface is a form of cross-section of panel. Locating

surface is configured to receive panel for setting in a correct position and
locating a body part from any surface such as flat, curved, or have an
irregular contour.

In most applications, locating surface devices locate a panel by its external

flat surfaces and flat area, such as: edges, flanges, steps, faces,
shoulders, and slots.

Clamping device

In every welding operation for body assembly, clamping of panel is an

essential requirement. A clamp can be defined as a device for providing an
invariant location with respect to an external loading system. In other
words a clamp is a force-actuating mechanism of a fixture unit.

The forces exerted by the clamps hold a panel securely in the fixture
against all other external forces.

When a welding process is producing a load or moment on the body part,

it is necessary that a sufficient clamping force must be exerted to
withstand such actions.

The generalized requirements of clamping device can be summarized as:

To provide a suitable fixing for achieving the stability of location
To produce sufficient frictional effects but without causing any undesirable
effects to the body parts such as distortion or surface damage
The clamping forces hold the body part in its located position and should
not cause any positional displacement or excessive distortion under the
action of the clamping forces
Clamping forces should be directed towards supporting and locating
elements on thin sections of the panel
Clamping force should be transmitted to the rigid sections of the body
frame of the base unit

There are two configurations of clamping device:

Manual clamp
Air clamp cylinder

Base

The base for BIW welding fixture should be attached with fixture unit such
as locating pin, locating surface and clamping device to maintain the
accuracy of body parts. The surface of base should be flat smooth and the
base should be rigid enough for easy welding and machining.

The framework of the base is usually made of shape steel. Load condition
and configuration are not uniform, so it is impossible to set a base shape in
general.

CLAMPING PLAN

The structural frame of the automobile, the Body-In-White (BIW), it's made
of sheet metal parts are joined together, clamping of parts is one of the
most critical issues in quality of an automotive body assembly

Such parameters of location such as contact area, state of contact,

clamping force, wear and damage in the contact area and deformation of
the component are of special interest.

The precision of the BIW assembly is one of the key factors affecting the
productivity and product quality.

In general, quality variation in the body parts is caused by:

Effective of part-to-part
Lack of part location stability
The stamping process variation

The sheet metal components are often flexible and compliant, and welding
process routinely bend and deform components through clamping forces
and heat distortion.

One objective of this study of the dimensional variation characteristics of

body is achieving body quality within the required tolerances. In order to
control quality variations within a certain range, it is critical to understand
the types and positions of locators in a BIW assembly.

One of the important items is sufficient datum to restrict six degrees of

freedom of parts.

In general, the goal is to constrain the part to the point where repeatable
measurements can be taken. In other words, assembly quality is
maximized if individual part means are produced to target specification
with minimum variation.

The method of part locating for automotive body assembly includes locator
map or clamping plan. Positioning and fixation of the body parts is carried
out using clamping plan, which are inserted into holes, surfaces and edges
in the body parts.

Clamping plan in process of designing fixture is activity to perform this

function during the assembly process on the welding fixtures.

Clamping plan is determination of clamps types, their position and the

force is assigned to each clamp. Clamps play an important role in
restraining the parts.

The clamping plan is widely used to determine the part location and
orientation by locating the parts with respect to a suitable datum, and
clamping the parts against it.

You can precisely locate a part in the x, y and z directions and eliminate all
six degrees-of-freedom of a body part by clamping plan.

The process of clamping plan involves:

The locating point

Clamp surface
 Clamping point

The locating point

In locating plan you should identify the locating points, they are on the
position of body parts that has high degree of precision.

The locating point includes the locating holes used for part locating and the
points whose dimensional accuracy is specified in the product design.

Clamp surface

The clamp surface represents the shape of cross section of the main
datum plane of a body parts. It is based on locating plan and used for the
planning of fixture unit to fix every part is performing in clamping plan.

Since the shape of cross section of body parts and number of fixture units
are drawn in the clamping drawing, it is basic for making clamping plan for
designing spot welding fixtures.

Clamping point

One of the key factors to determine clamping points is to minimize the

deformation of a clamped body parts. Such optimization of clamping points
becomes possible by estimating the deformation of clamped body part

The feasible clamping plan was constructed by selecting one clamping

point from each district of clamping point of the body parts.

The clamping plan was evaluated according to the height and location of
each clamping point and the relationship between the clamping points and
the actual support region of the main datum plane of a body parts.
17)3D MODELING SOFT WARE

You need to clearly see new ways to higher productivity, speed and quality
of BIW welding fixture design. To arrive at the best plan for designing your
fixture, 3d modeling software, a suite of digital designing solutions that
helps you the modeling and simulation of welding fixture.
Software solutions that allow designer to leverage and optimize existing
resources and to better integrate the designing process from beginning to
end can not only help designer create fixture faster, but they can also
begin production earlier in the overall cycle or even start later, in order to
accommodate unanticipated changes.

3D simulations of the fixture units let you detect collisions, check reach
ability and optimize cycle time, so you ensure that your design problems
and waste are discovered before manufacturing of your fixture. Allows you
to manage data from multiple CAD sources, integrate legacy systems and
adapt to new technological developments.

The solid model solution supports the designing process life-cycle from
process planning and detailed engineering to full production.

For you, trying to balance between cost and quality, and time is critical.
Through the use of 3d solid model software can rapidly analyze new
concern and structural requirements for design ability. 3D model helps you
quickly analyze new designs for productivity and ensure that they conform
to planning processes.

CAD software, enables you to create 3D design of accurate 3D model of

the fixture and manage all the information generated during the process
planning. You can manage designing of fixture in a proven architecture
providing access to critical information such as geometry, tolerances,
features and datum.

3D modeling is flexible designing solutions that dramatically increases your

design profitability by evaluating dimensional requirements and improve
decision-making in design between quality demands and purposes.

CAD models are generated from the existing 2D drawings. 3D modeling

assignments for various components of welding fixture are done, as the
starting point.

You can design your fixture faster than you could with 2D CAD drawings.
And since these 3D models have embedded object intelligence, they?re
easier to visualize and more informative than 2D drawings. It takes the
input geometry data in standard data exchange file formats
(IGES/BREP/STEP) and provides output in the same formats.

The CAD solution includes a broad range of applications to optimize

design sequences:
-Product design
3D modeling
2D drafting & detailing
Geometrical dimensioning & tolerance
Sheet metal design
-Migration from 2D to 3D
Conversion 2D drawing in to parametric 3D model
-Legacy data conversion
Digitization of legacy drawings
-Reverse engineering
2D drafting and 3D model from real components
-Manufacturing engineering
Process/setup sheets, tool design, NC programming

After creation of the part models, the different parts can be assembled for
interference checks, tolerance analysis and mass property calculations.
Digital Mockup (DMU) can be simulated to visualize the kinematical
functioning of the Assembly.

Additionally, 3D solid model of fixture provides tools to analyze design flow

and detail design in your fixture, there by optimizing from conceptual
design to detail design.

Utilized all of the CAD software fundamental knowledge to:

Sketch, design and assemble engineering parts and product

Use the sheet metal module to produce simple sheet metal
parts/products
Generate drawings for production purposes
Major CAD Systems are used:
Catia V5
Uni Graphics
Pro- E