Mumbai University > Mechanical Engineering > Sem 5 > production process 3

Marks: 10M

Year: Dec 2015

• The term transfer indicates the transfer of workpiece from one station to another station during the manufacturing process.
• The unmachined work piece are loaded at one end and the machined work piece leave the transfer line at the other end.
• The transfer machine or transfer line consists of several machining heads, or units fastened together by conveying units.
• Transfer units are commonly used in automobile industry, air-craft industry,etc.
• Transfer machines can be of the following types:
  • In-line transfer machine.
  • Rotary Indexing table transfer machine.
  • Drum Type transfer machine.
• In-Line Transfer Machine :
  • It consists of a straight central bed into the sides of which the machines heads are fixed at a particular distance as below figure shows.

• The parts to be machined are conveyed along a track on the bed either with or without use of holding fixture called as pallet.

  • The work may be loaded manually or automatically on the machine and it is transferred from station to station during the operation.

  • Generally, In line transfer devices is selected when the number of station exceeds 24.

  • Rotary Indexing Table Transfer Machine:

  • When the space does not allow the work to be conveyed in a straight line then it may be more convenient to transfer the work around a circular line.

  • Hence, in this system the work pieces are located on the circular table and they are indexed around each successive machining station which are spaced as in case of in-time transfer machine.
  • Below figure shows rotary indexing table machine only 6 to 8 machining heads can be installed on these types of machines.

• Drum Type Transfer Machine:

  • It is similar in concept but different in configuration to the rotary table type machine.
  • In these machines, the work fixtures are fastened to the outer peripherals of a drum.
  • This arrangement enables the work pieces to transfer around a circular path to work stations placed racially at equal distances.
  • The main limitation of this methods m is the machining is done horizontally from the sides and the lower station always remains idle as it is practically not possible to arrange a machining head to operate in the limited space under the drum.