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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.

Bombardier Canadair was the first airframe manufacturer to take advantage of Gemcor's “state of the art” All Electric Rotary Head fastening system. Due to the success of the first 2 systems installed at Canadair, they have purchased 2 additional for a total of 4 systems in use. See figure 1. This paper will act as a case study on how Canadair has taken advantage of the very fast cycle times combined with greater flexibility and quicker set-up times than on existing hydraulic machines. Significant increase in fastener installation process quality indicates this is now the standard that all automatic fastening machines shall be measured against.

Wing riveter technologies have evolved over the years to provide continuous improvements in the areas of process quality, rivet rate and machine reliability. The latest advancements in these systems address each of these requirements and can be applied to existing equipment, as well as new riveting systems.