Airbus Operations Gmbh

British Aerospace Public Limited Company

Airbus UK Limited

Timothy David Hall

Brian John Turner

Graham Scott Gutsell

Adam Kruczynski

Michael J Lait

William J Harrison

A method of joining together a first and second workpieces. The method comprises; drilling a first hole at least partially through the first workpiece with a drill bit oriented in a first direction; drilling a second hole at least partially through the first workpiece with a drill bit oriented in a second direction which is not parallel with the first direction, the drill bit passing through the first workpiece into a side of the first hole; inserting a fastener through the second workpiece and into the first hole; inserting an anchor into the first hole via the second hole; and securing the fastener within the first hole with the anchor. The invention also relates to a drill guide for use in such a method. The drill bit is aligned by placing a target magnet in the first hole without completely filling it; placing a drill guide with a guide magnet or magnetic field sensor next to the first workpiece; adjusting the position of the drill guide until the guide magnet or magnetic field sensor indicates that the drill guide is aligned with the target magnet; and drilling the second hole by passing the drill bit through the drill guide and at least partially through the first workpiece, the drill bit entering the side of the first hole at a location where the first hole is not filled by the target magnet.

Drill guide

The orientation of a machinerelative to a work-pieceis manually controlled by means of an alignment device. The deviceincludes a light sourcerigidly attached to a footthat is resiliently movably attached to the main bodyof the device. The bodyof the devicehouses a light detectorfor detecting a light beam from the light source, the position of the region on the detectorilluminated by the beam depending on the orientation of the machinerelative to the work-piece. The operator is provided with feedback on whether the machineis correctly aligned with a target orientation (usually perpendicular to the surface) and concerning the direction of corrective movement required, if any.

Optical alignment device for machine tool

Cable handling and preparation apparatus comprising a cable source (12), cable stripping and crimping means (14), length determining means, robotic control means (13), cable guidance (43) and marking (11) means and cable conveying means (16). The arrangement is such that at least one cable or possibly more can be selectively drawn from a source comprising several powered cable reels (18) holding cables of different size by the robotic control means (13), subjected to processing by the stripping and crimping means (14) and subjected to marking, preferably laser marking, along its length, the prepared cable simultaneously and progressively being conveyed from the apparatus by the conveying means (16).

Cable handling and preparation apparatus

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Bristol, United Kingdom

Timothy David Hall