The Boeing Company

Jeffrey C Bye

Mark Frederick Gabriel

Walter D Sykes

An end-effector assembly provides lateral compliance for a cutting tool while counter-sinking a bore in a workpiece. The assembly has a first subassembly which is connected to a gantry. A second subassembly may extend or retract relative to the first, such movement being driven by hydraulic or air cylinders. A third subassembly carries the cutting tool and motor for driving the same. This latter subassembly is connected to the second subassembly by a plurality of compliant members which cause the third subassembly to extend and retract correspondingly with the second, but which permit the third subassembly to shift laterally relative to the second. In this situation, the motor and cutting tool also shift laterally along with the third subassembly.

End-effector assembly for countersinking a predrilled bore

A self-normalizing compliant drive coupling (10) having a constant-velocity joint (12) attached to a unidirectional clutch (14) to accommodate axial misalignment of a drive shaft attached to the body (16) of the joint (12) and a driven shaft grasped by the clutch (14). A housing (26) has a cylindrical top portion (28) with a top axial bore (30) for receiving a stem (18) of the joint (12) and a bottom axial bore (34) for receiving the clutch (14). A resilient sleeve (42) encloses the joint (12) and rests on a shoulder (40) on the housing (26). A collar (44) slides over the joint body (16) to bear against the top surface (43) of the sleeve (42) to place the sleeve (42) under a compressive load that urges the clutch housing (26) into axial alignment with the body (16) of the joint (12).

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Everett, WA, United States of America

Jeffrey C Bye