Flying roller hemming anvil process
A roller hemming system for edge hemming vehicle closures from nested metal panels includes an anvil robot moveably supporting a hemming anvil having a working surface, a clamping spider cooperable with the anvil robot for clamping the nested metal panels on the working surface, an anvil register including a base and a registration feature for matingly positioning the hemming anvil thereto, a hemming robot including a multi-axis controllable arm, a roller hemming apparatus mounted on a distal end of the multi-axis arm, the roller hemming apparatus being moveable along edges of the nested metal panels on the anvil to hem the panels together.
1. A roller hemming system for edge hemming vehicle closures from nested metal panels, said system comprising:
an anvil robot moveably supporting a hemming anvil having a working surface;
a cornering unit mounted on said hemming anvil and including a non-rotatable hemming tool for performing hemming operations only on corners of said nested metal panels;
a clamping spider cooperable with said anvil robot for clamping said nested metal panels on said working surface;
an anvil register including a base and a registration feature for matingly positioning said hemming anvil thereto;
a hemming robot including a multi-axis controllable arm;
roller hemming apparatus mounted on a distal end of said multi-axis arm;
said roller hemming apparatus being moveable along edges of said nested metal panels on said anvil to hem said panels together.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said clamping spider includes a plurality of pivotal swing clamps pivotable between an open loading position and closed clamping position.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein said clamping spider includes a registration member for locating metal panels.
4. The system of claim 3 wherein said registration member is a register pin.
5. The system of claim 1 including a plurality of hemming robots.
6. The system of claim 1 including an additional robot having a tool exchanger end effector.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein said cornering unit is mounted along the side of said anvil.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein said cornering unit is mounted adjacent said anvil working surface.
9. The system of claim 1 including a cornering unit actuator for actuating said cornering unit to hem said nested metal panels in an engaged disposition of said hemming tool.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein said cornering unit actuator is a robot.
11. The system of claim 9 wherein said cornering unit actuator is a fluid actuated cylinder arrangement.
12. The system of claim 9 wherein said cornering unit actuator is a mechanical linkage assembly.
13. The system of claim 9 including a biasing member to bias said cornering unit hemming tool to a non-engaged disposition.
14. A process for edge hemming vehicle closures from nested metal panels, said process comprising the steps of:
moveably supporting a hemming anvil having a working surface on an anvil robot;
mounting a cornering unit on said hemming anvil, the cornering unit including a non-rotatable hemming tool for performing hemming operations only on corners of said nested metal panels;
clamping said nested metal panels on said working surface using a clamping spider cooperable with said anvil robot;
matingly positioning said hemming anvil to an anvil register including a base and a registration feature;
providing a hemming robot including a multi-axis controllable arm including roller hemming apparatus mounted on a distal end of said multi-axis arm;
moving said roller hemming apparatus along edges of said nested metal panels on said anvil to hem said panels together;
actuating said cornering unit to hem corners of said nested metal panels.