Automation expands fastener production
A
Bighead Bonding Fasteners product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Oct 31, 2006
Automatic welding machine increases fastener production capacity, helping to produce a range of over 1200 variants.
The manufacture of BigHead fasteners depends on one core requirement - the ability to weld a thin, large-diameter metal head to a stud or collar at a strength equal to that of the metal of which it's made.
This central skill is at the heart of the BigHead product range, and with the company's latest automatic welding machine now in full production, a major increase in production capacity is online, helping to produce the company's range of over 1200 variants.
Designed and built by BigHead's technical staff with the help of BWP Technical Services, the Twinhead is capable of producing two sizes of BigHead simultaneously at a production rate of some 3000 per hour, at zero defect levels.
The machine requires no labour, and is believed to be "unique" in the world.
"We invented the BigHead 40 years ago", says BigHead's MD Brian Giddings: "and we are unaware of anyone, anywhere, even capable of knowing how to start the design".
The machine consists of two auto-welders built on a single chassis; each is fed by two bowl feeders, with feeder tracks leading directly to the eight weld heads on each "side".
Each weld, incorporating up to six weld cycles at varying current and hydraulic pressure, takes less than half a second.
Three separate sensor systems check up to six parameters, to give the weld a tailored melt and optimum grain structure.
This allows for studs from M4 to M8 thread to be welded to heads from 15 to 38mm in diameter, either in mild or 316 stainless steel.
"The Twinhead represents a huge investment for a small, specialised company like BigHead", says Giddings.
"We're very proud that we produced it entirely from our own resources and BWP's knowhow".
"We've learnt a lot from the whole process - the next one will definitely cost us a lot less".
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