By Frank Genovese, Sherex Applications Engineer

A lot of work goes into assembly design, and it’s important to ensure your product goes out of the facility with everything manufactured to specification. While sampling can assist with quality assurance, it’s always a good idea to have an in-process check to quickly determine whether or not your assembly is being put together correctly.

When it comes to rivet nuts, quality of installation can vary based on a wide array of factors. These factors may include, but are not limited to: air pressure being supplied to your tool, the setting of the tool’s load adjustment mechanism (when applicable), integrity of the tool itself, installation pane thickness, operator use of the tool, or part quality. With so many possible root causes it’s nice to have a way to narrow things down.

The new Sherex Hand Tool Calibration Unit is an asset that allows operators to insert a spin-spin or spin-pull tool, test an install, and receive the peak load put out by the tool during that install. This essentially takes the guess work out of setting your installations and allows you to calibrate the tool accordingly. The unit is able to capture and store historical data, including moving averages to allow operators to note any possible changes in installation load over time, and then immediately make adjustments to the tool to correct its course whenever necessary. This will help with planning tool maintenance and to become more comfortable with how the tool operates.

More Than Just Calibration
This also allows operators or engineers to better determine if there is a problem during installation. Was it air pressure, gun not setting correctly, quality of rivet nuts, material thickness issue? The Hand Tool Calibration Unit can help determine or eliminate root causes during analysis if a problem exists.

Another benefit, with the ability to easily perform in-process quality checks on your tool, you can further design your internal fabrication and changeover processes to ensure you strike the perfect balance between quality and speed, especially when installing more than one type of rivet nut.

To assist with your in-house applications, the Sherex Engineering Department has put together a whole host of reference material to provide recommended installation loads for a host of different product lines, thread sizes, and grip ranges. This material should give significant guidance on proper use of our tools and parts.

The calibration unit is a tool for quality. It lets operators know how their tool is operating, takes the guess work out of setting installations, and helps in determining the root causes of any rivet nut installation issues.

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