Design & Development of Auto Rivet Inserting Machine for Deep Groove Ball Bearing Cages

Abstract

The bearing cage is one of the important components of the deep grove ball bearing assembly. The cage being most precise, delicate and important element for the functionality of the entire bearing, manufacturing of the cage is still considered a combination of art and science. Due to precision requirements of the cage specifications, the packaging, handling & transportation after manufacturing need utmost care. Even assembly of cage with very small & precision rivet is one of the most critical and important process needs to perform. The tiny rivets produced with micron accuracy; storage, transport from bin to cage; located precisely with cage holes and insertion to cage is one of the challenging manufacturing aspects. Traditionally all above tasks & operations were done by manual operation and results in low productivity. With this project, the rivet inserting process will be fully automated, it includes cage orientation, loading, rivet inserting, pressing and unloading without manual intervention. It is another challenge of thinking to develop an automate process for rivet insertion to the cage. There are many reasons; however one out of it is the cost component of the rivet insertion operation among total manufacturing cost. In addition justification of manual labour cost against automatic rivet insertion cost is also challenge. The attempt is made to develop a low cost automatic rivet inserting machine with benefits of higher accuracy level, increased productivity, low operating cost. The machine comprises of simple pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical and electrical systems available off the shelf. The simple design of machine would also enable the operation of this equipment by even semi-skilled and unskilled labor, with a little training. The error proofing of the system has been kept in mind while designing the machine to avoid the generation of defects and thus to reduce the rejection.