Automotive Adhesives
EM Fibreglass - VWT5 Roofs
EM FIBREGLASS (EM, Hornsyld, Denmark) are working alongside Volkswagen AG (VW, Wolfsburg, Germany) on a new fibreglass composite roof assembly produced for VW’s T5 transporter van.
One of Europe’s largest car manufacturers Volkswagen has been successfully adding the medium-high roof to its T5 line since 2003.
A 7-axs robot, manufactured by the Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. Robot Div. (Akashi, Japan), picks stringers from the magazine and places them into a heated fixture above the cured roof panel. The robot then automatically switches from its retrieval/positioning head to a glue head and applies Plexus Structural Adhesive along specific paths, per the part program. After applying the adhesive, the robot swings out of the way and the overhead fixture descends into the roof panel, pressing the stringers into the adhesive. At this point, the fixture serves as a press, holding the stringers firmly in place until they bond to the panel.
Positioning and gluing take about six minutes, with an additional six required for cure. The assembled roof is now ready for shipment, only three hours and four minutes after gel coat application.
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