Over the upcoming months we will be publishing operational checklists designed to help you and your team increase productivity, efficiency and ultimately your bottom line. Here’s the first produced by Lance Curry.
Panel Fabricating Checklist from Scottsdale
- Rivet teams consist of 1x RF operator and 2x riveters
- The RF operator’s role is to keep the rollformer producing frames but also help out placing items in the frame ready to be riveted. The longer the item being produced by the rollformer the more time the RF operator has to help his team.
For Example: If his/her team are still finishing a frame he/she can help by placing elements in position while either stacking produced elements on the roll-out table or placing them around the outside of the rivet stand in preparation for being placed in the rivet stands once the completed frame has been removed. - To avoid any delays make sure enough coil is in position and made ready for each shift.
- Make sure there is abundant amount of rivets on hand.
- Rivet gun holder on rivet stand for ease of placement of rivet gun while working.
- Make sure rivet guns are properly serviced causing no down time with production. Have a spare.
- Check the rivet gun has a swivel or elbow hose connection to ease any hose drag.
- When ordering rivets try to purchase Steel/Steel Dome Head rivets that have a uniformed round head and don’t have a gap between the Rivet Body and the Mandrel Head. This will help create a much smoother entre for the rivet body avoiding the hole material(s) from catching between this gap. Some dome mandrel heads are slightly pinched in the manufacturing process and this can make the head of the mandrel wider than the Rivet Body.
- Rivet and screw pouch to be worn by each riveter.
- Place rivet in hole using rivet gun unless you are the RF operator where you might do this by hand.
- Make sure you rivet top and bottom holes first before moving to next hole location.
- Have a printout of all frames to be riveted in case items get mixed up.
- If you have a single rivet machine make sure the braces in the lintel are not too shallow otherwise virtual mitre will extend the flanges. For double rivet machines make sure virtual mitre is active.
- If one of the back-to-back rivet holes is too tight then check back-to-back separation is correct. If its ok check rivet hole height.
- Ask designer to place orientation holes closest to any large openings. If the opening is further away from the end of the frame this can provide enough time to catch-up if any time was lost putting together the lintel.
- To prevent pausing frames place lintel elements on the ground in the location, orientation and sequence they will be assembled.
- Frame elements should be riveted sequentially working from the origin (left) as per the frame shown on the printout and the RF laptop.
- Feedback to the design team may eliminate problem items that are just too tight to line up holes or the hole is covered by another element. It would be a good idea to have the designer help out fabricating frames so they understand areas where they can assist the fabrication teams.
- When using 1mm steel, staggered Nogs will speed up fabrication time.
- A Podger hole alignment spike can be used for lining up difficult hole alignment.
- A rubber mallet can be used to persuade very tight elements to align.
- Provide a cooling fan for hot and humid working conditions for workers.
- Make sure Joint & Stud gaps are not too tight.
- All RF teams should have their own set of tools.
- When it’s getting to the time where the coil needs to be replaced run out as many meters as possible and if the riveters can’t keep up DO NOT PAUSE but place these elements around the outside of the rivet stands. This will provide material for the riveters to carry on while the rollformer is stopped and new coil is being feed through.
- Do not flip frames over when riveting frames.
*RF=Rollformer
To discuss how the Scottsdale team can work with you to customise a checklist to suit your requirements please get in touch.
