Automated design of welding jigs for body shops

In automotive body shops, rigid, component-specific welding jigs result in high costs in the event of product changes in the prototype and pre-series phase. The use of additive manufactured jig elements is a solution to provide product-specific elements at lower cost [1]. For a faster and even more cost-efficient design and manufacturing process of welding jigs, the automation of the design process is a pro-mising solution [2]. At the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of the RWTH Aachen University, an automation tool for the design of welding jigs for the com-puter-aided design (CAD) system „Creo is developed in colla-boration with the company PTC Inc. The solution is based on a modular jig system with a component library consisting of standard elements (standard profiles, clamps and locating pins), 2D cut metal elements as well as additive manufactured component-specific jig elements. The structure of additive manufactured polymer elements allows an accelerated welding jig design process with high adaptability. With a test welded assembly, the ability to automate the design process could be demonstrated in an exemplary manner. The estimation of the design time shows the potential of a design time reduction of up to 88.5 % compared to manual, non-automated jig design. The use of additive manufacturing in jig and fixture design can reduce manufacturing costs of welding jigs. © 2021, VDI Fachmedien GmBbH & Co.. All rights reserved.