A system and method for drilling a hole in a vehicle structure and installing a fastener in the hole. A drill plate having openings and associated machine-readable elements is positioned on the structure. A drill gun is positioned in a particular opening and reads hole information from the associated element, and a computer determines whether the drill gun is properly set-up to drill the hole. A fastener insertion gun is positioned in the particular opening and reads fastener information from the element, and the computer determines whether the hole has been drilled and, if so, whether the fastener insertion gun is properly set-up to insert the fastener. A fastener delivery subsystem stores, tracks, and delivers fasteners to the fastener insertion gun. A system computer monitors the drilling of every hole, the insertion of every fastener, and the overall operation of the fastener delivery subsystem.

A manufacturing system for producing airplane structural components, including a drilling unit for producing bores in a material assembly made of at least two material plies for the purposes of inserting fastening elements and having a measuring unit for ascertaining geometry parameters for a previously produced bore. The measuring unit includes measuring electronics with an optical sensor element, a measuring optical unit and a measuring lance. The measuring unit produces an optical measurement beam that emerges from the measuring lance via the measuring optical unit and that is incident on a measurement point on the respective bore inner surface. A measurement movement between measuring lance and material assembly is provided in a measurement cycle and the measuring unit cyclically ascertains distance values to various measurement points at a scanning rate during the measurement movement and ascertains at least one geometry parameter for the respective bore from the distance values.

Provided is a drill that can drill with good accuracy without over-processing during deburring. The drill includes: a drill main body that is rotated around a central axis; a main cutting edge provided at a leading end of the drill main body; and a deburring cutting edge that is provided on a base end side of the drill main body, adjacent to the main cutting edge, and performs deburring. The deburring cutting edge is similar in diameter to the main cutting edge and has an angle (β) smaller than an angle (α) formed by the main cutting edge relative to the central axis.

A method includes making a first structure with a first plurality of pre-drilled holes at pre-defined locations, making a second structure with a second plurality of pre-drilled holes at pre-defined locations, making a third structure without pre-drilled full-size holes, measuring the location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures, determining the location of a third plurality of holes to be drilled in the third structure that correspond to first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes measured in the first and second structures, creating a program to drill the third plurality of holes in the third structure that align with the measured location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures based on the measure location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structure, drilling the third plurality of holes in the third structure based on the program, positioning the third structure on the first and second structures such that the third plurality of holes in the third structure are aligned with the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures, and inserting fasteners through the third plurality of holes and the first and second plurality of predrilled holes that are aligned with the third plurality of holes to secure the second structure to the first structure using the third structure.

An assembly apparatus includes a retainer, a position measurement device, and a machining device. The retainer is configured to hold an assembly. The position measurement device is configured to measure a difference between an intended machining position and an actual machining position of a first coupling hole in a first assembly component. The first coupling hole is capable of being coupled to the assembly. The machining device is configured to form a second coupling hole capable of communicating with the first coupling hole in the assembly based on a reference position set on the assembly and the difference.

A method includes making a first structure with a first plurality of pre-drilled holes at pre-defined locations, making a second structure with a second plurality of pre-drilled holes at pre-defined locations, making a third structure without pre-drilled full-size holes, measuring the location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures, determining the location of a third plurality of holes to be drilled in the third structure that correspond to first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes measured in the first and second structures, creating a program to drill the third plurality of holes in the third structure that align with the measured location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures based on the measure location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structure, drilling the third plurality of holes in the third structure based on the program, positioning the third structure on the first and second structures such that the third plurality of holes in the third structure are aligned with the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures, and inserting fasteners through the third plurality of holes and the first and second plurality of predrilled holes that are aligned with the third plurality of holes to secure the second structure to the first structure using the third structure.

A positioning device for positioning a drilling tool of a drilling apparatus relative to a workpiece includes a cage mounted to the drilling apparatus such that the cage at least partially surrounds the drilling tool. The cage includes an end portion that includes an alignment surface that is configured to be engaged in physical contact with a workpiece surface of the workpiece. The alignment surface of the cage is oriented relative to a centerline axis of the drilling tool such that the centerline axis extends approximately normal to the workpiece surface when the alignment surface of the cage is in contact with the workpiece surface. The positioning device also includes a laser projector mounted to the cage such that the laser projector is configured to project an illuminated dot onto the workpiece surface that indicates where the centerline axis of the drilling tool intersects the workpiece surface.

Embodiments herein provide drill hole location transfer between remote components. One embodiment is an apparatus for replicating drill holes of a first workpiece on a second workpiece remotely located from the first workpiece. The apparatus includes an interface to receive coordinate data of first alignment pins installed to first template holes of a first drill plate, and a receptacle to receive a second drill plate having second template holes that match a pattern of the first templates holes of the first drill plate. A pin setting device moves a reference member in a plane over the receptacle, and positions the reference member with respect to the second drill plate based on the coordinate data of the first alignment pins, thus indicating locations within the second template holes to position drill bushings for replicating the first holes of the first workpiece on the second workpiece.

A method of assembling an aircraft assembly having a first member and a second member includes drilling at least one first opening through the first member, the at least one opening having a first diameter, and drilling at least one second opening through the second member, the at least one second opening having the first diameter. The method also includes forming a chamfer on the at least one first opening and the at least one second opening, the chamfer having a chamfer diameter, and positioning the first and second members to align the at least one first opening and the at least one second opening. The method further includes drilling the at least one first opening and the at least one second opening to a second diameter, wherein the second diameter is greater than the first diameter.

A method and apparatus. The apparatus comprises a first portion of a tool and a second portion of the tool. The first portion of the tool has a first surface. The first surface has a shape that is complementary to a first portion of a part. The second portion has at least one of a second surface configured to be recessed from a second portion of the part or a hollow portion.