Tag Archives: Manufacturing Equipment

New Flat Die Thread Rolling Technology

Posted on by

Reprint from China Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 189

One of the delights of being an independent consultant is the wide assortment of people I meet and projects I get to review. Over the last ten years the two problems that I am most commonly approached about include skills development and thread rolling. In fact, I have written many articles in the last ten years and the one that I most frequently have inquiries about years later is related to problems in thread rolling. This is truly a step in the fastener manufacturing process that is ripe for innovation.

Read the full article (PDF)Download

Thread Rolling Machines

Posted on by

Reprint from China Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 189

I started my career in the fastener industry between my third and fourth year of university. Although it’s been thirty- four years now, I can remember almost like yesterday the first time I got to walk around a fastener manufacturing plant. Of course we started in the heading department and seeing headers paying off wire and spitting out parts was very exciting, but it was the rolling operation that really left a lasting impression on me.

Read the full article (PDF)Download

Common Problems Faced by Manufacturing in Nut Processing

Posted on by

Reprint from China Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 188

Nuts, like screws and bolts, are, generally, a high volume commodity. As such, the most predominant method of manufacturing them starts
with cold forming a blank. However, lower volume or large size nuts more often use hot forging or screw machining techniques. For the purposes of this article, we will limit our discussion to the cold forming manufacturing method.

Read the full article (PDF)Download

Multi-station Parts Forming: How Does a Parts Former Differ from a Nut Former?

Posted on by

Reprint from China Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 187

What do Multi-station Formers Do?
Prior to considering the machine itself, we should first consider what consumers and manufacturers want from these machines. The answer to this question is pretty simple, consumers want quality parts, suited for the intended purpose at a reasonable price and manufacturers want to provide such parts with the most efficient processes or methods available. In other words, as parts become more complex and sophisticated they usually
become more challenging to manufacture. The manufacturer is motivated to remain competitive, and, therefore, must evolve their manufacturing capabilities to be as efficient as possible. Let us consider for example a high volume trimmed hex head part.

Read the full article (PDF)Download

Fastener Manufacturing Equipment – An Overview

Posted on by

Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 164

It was over thirty years ago that I first walked through a fastener manufacturing plant. I was just completing a cooperative education program with General Motors and looking to complete my engineering education with another summer internship. As luck would have it I was invited to interview with a fastener manufacturer near my home.

That first introduction to manufacturing of fasteners would serve to begin a lifelong interest and appreciation for the way that fasteners are made and, more generally, with all manufacturing processes. I was particularly impressed with my first look at how fastener threads are formed. Never in a million years would I have expected that threads could be formed by squeezing and rolling parts between two, grooved flat plates.

Read the full article (PDF)Download

Characterization of Flow Drill Screwdriving Process Parameters on Joint Quality

Posted on by

From SAE International, September 2014

Abstract: A state of the art proprietary method for aluminum-to-aluminum joining in the automotive industry is Resistance Spot Welding. However, with spot welding (1) structural performance of the joint may be degraded through heat-affected zones created by the high temperature thermal joining process, (2) achieving the double-sided access necessary for the spot welding electrodes may limit design flexibility, and (3) variability with welds leads to production inconsistencies. Self-piercing rivets have been used before; however they require different rivet/die combinations depending on the material being joined, which adds to process complexity. In recent years the introductions of screw products that combine the technologies of friction drilling and thread forming have entered the market. These types of screw products do not have these access limitations as through-part connections are formed by one-sided access using a thermo-mechanical flow screwdriving process with minimal heat. The friction drilling, thread forming process, hereto referred to as “FDS” is an automated continuous process that allows multi-material joining by utilizing a screw as both the tool and the fastener. The process uses the friction caused by the rotating screw to pierce and extrude the material. Threads are then created in this formed extrusion which allows the fastener to be screwdriven into the parts. A final torquing then securely clamps together the sheets of material. This study explores the quality design space as represented by resultant joint geometry as a function of the critical process parameters of fastener force and drilling speed. Feasible design space regions are explored to determine how process parameters affect joint geometry, and strength testing performed to validate the findings. (Article No.: SAE 2014-01-2241)

Available for Purchase on SAE International: http://papers.sae.org/2014-01-2241/

 

The Basics of Fastener Sorting

Posted on by

From Link Magazine, Summer 2014

Over twenty-five years ago when I first started working in the fastener industry PPAP, ISO9000, and zero defects were not yet commonplace ideas. In fact, when I first started, sorting was all manual and reserved pretty much only for salvaging parts that a customer returned with a major problem. Today, it is a very different story. A large percentage of fasteners made or sold in the U.S. are sorted, with some companies serving certain industries or customers adopting the philosophy of sorting 100% of their
parts.

Download the full article (PDF) »

Are You Familiar With Common Failure Modes On Roll Threaded Products?

Posted on by

From Fastener Technology International, December 2012

I can vividly remember the first time I walked onto the manufacturing floor of a fastener manufacturer. I was not a rookie to a manufacturing environment, having spent the previous two years in a large metal stamping facility, but the “rat-tat-tat” sound of multiple headers banging out hundreds of parts a minute was a big departure from the “ker-chunk” sound of a 2000 lb press forming a car’s hood or quarter panel that I had grown accustomed to. Although the headers were center stage and what I would subsequently naturally showcase during hundreds of plant tours in the years afterward, it was the humble thread roller that left an indelible memory during that first plant tour.

I suppose this impression was far less the result of any impressiveness of the machine itself and more on the ingenuity and complete unexpectedness of the rolling process. At that time, my paradigm was shaped from the only experience I had in threading a bolt, and that was using a tap and die set on my garage workbench. I guess I simply assumed that all threaded fasteners employed a tap or die in some fashion.

Therefore, I was fascinated to see parts being rolled between two flat plates at speeds so fast that they obscured the parts and transformed them into an unrecognizable blur. I walked away transfixed and appreciative of the creativity and ingenuity of some long past engineer. It would only be much later that I would fully appreciate the art of this process, but also the multitude of ways that it could produce defects and defective parts. This article is not intended to be an in-depth and detailed look at process, dies, set-up or any number of other factors that play a part in the conditions of the end product, but rather a brief introduction to the common failure modes that can result from thread rolling.

Download the full article (PDF) »