BoxJoint Tooling System

Traditionally, in the automotive and aerospace industry, assembly jigs are large, bespoke, permanent structures that are costly to both design and manufacture. The assembly jigs are normally the largest Non Recurring cost at the start of a project aside from the factory facility itself.

The optimal solutions is BoxJoint

The BoxJoint system is an arrangement of beams and joints, which together forms a framework. There are no welds or dowels between the connecting pieces in the system. Instead the parts are fixed to each other with friction.

The BoxJoints are used to join standard galvanised steel beams to form the framework of the jig. The framework is set to a loose tolerance allowing for a quick assembly process and the use of the standard low cost beams. The final accurate interface between the jig and the aircraft components is achieved through adjustable pickups.

Throughout the jig build process laser metrology is used to quickly measure and adjust the position the jig beams and component pickups.

The product web site on BoxJoint show many applications examples on BoxJoint. www.boxjoint.se

The advantages of the BoxJoint system are:

• Off the shelf components, no bespoke parts

• Design tools available for quick design and CATIA model generation

• No welding or other hot work

• No Stress relieving

• No Machining

• No Jig Boring

• Short lead time for parts

• Short time to market for the jig

• Flexible and reusable parts

• Low thermal expansion compared to existing aluminium flexible solutions

• Relaxed tolerances until the final component pickup location

• Easily adapted to design changes

• Well suited for carbon fibre jigs – no welding or drilling

• Durable, long life parts

The movie shows a rebuild from a transport fixture to a machining jig. 100% of the BoxJoint components from the transport fixture is re-used to the machining jig.