What is BIW ?

BIW (short for Body in White) is a stage in automotive design and manufacturing. BIW refers to the body
shell design of an automotive product such as cars. It is just a sheet metal welded structure. BIW will not
have doors, engines, chassis or any other moving parts.

In today's situation, automotive BIW is made of steel (various steel grade material -DP, DD, HDP etc.)
As well as made of aluminium alloy (e.g. AUDI A8)
Sub-assemblies like Under body, Body side Left Hand Side/ Right Hand Side, Front End, Roof etc. Gets
welded together by various metal joining process e.g. Resistance spot welding, Laser welding, MIG
welding to make welded metal shell (Without Door, Trunk-lid / Tailgate) , Fender, Bonnet Center) called
Body in White.
Automotive car shell made before painting is called Body in White.
BIW joinery decides the exterior and interior look of any car.
All the Interior Parts(Commonly used in Automotive) e.g. Dashboard, Trim (Door Trim, Pillar Trims,
Roof liner, Seats are mounted on the BIW shell with the help of various brackets or nuts mounted on the
BIW.
Exterior (Commonly used term in car industry) components e.g. Front Bumper, Rear Bumper, Fender
LH/RH, Side Mirrors are mounted on the BIW shell with the help of various brackets or mounting
systems.
BIW Welding Fixture Domain Terminology and its definition
1. A class panel-Generally exterior sheet metal component are having A class surfaces. A class surface plays
important role in overall styling of automotive. A, B class surface depends on the degree of the curves.
Most of the product designer works with various styling software e.g.ICSM Surf, Alias to design free
form design panels. A class panels eg. LH/RH body side, Doors, Tail gate, Bonnet, Fenders and Roof
2. Spot Welding- It's a type of resistance welding .2/3 sheet metals are joined together
3. Takt Time- Average time needed to meet the customer demand. Takt Time=Net time available / Demand(
customer requirement of no of units)
4. Cycle Time-Time required to execute the task
5. 2 Metal Spot- Resistance spot welding to join sheet 2 metal parts
6. 3 Metal Spot- Resistance spot welding to join sheet 3 metal parts
7. Car lines- All the BIW product design and BIW fixture/ tool designer, BIW process plannner and BIW
simulation Engineer has to know car lines. To represent the position of biw car parts,welding fixture and
its unit assemblies with its individual parts (e.g.mylars) in 2D drawings, their respective positions are
shown with reference to (X=0,Y=0,Z=0)positions. In short its shows in 2D XY, YZ or XZ coordinate
position of BIW welding fixture parts or assemblies with reference to origin X=0,Y=0,Z=0
8. Mylar: Called as Rest or Clamp block which is used for holding 2/3 BIW sheet metal parts.Mylars are
also called NC blocks. In German language Mylar is called as counter stein. Mylars plays important role
in the BIW welded assembly geometrical accuracy. Mylars are made of steel or in plastic material.
9. Rest Block : As per the 3-2-1 principle to rest any part/ assembly 3 points are required. Generally rest
block are provided and given adjustment by providing shims.
10. Clamp block : Generally as per the 3-2-1 principle for holding the component the clamp block are moved
via toggle clamp against the rest block PLP- Principle Location point
11. RPS- Reference Punkt System. Same as PLP
12. Location Round Pin- Pin used to location BIW sheet metal parts. Also called 4way pin.
13. Diamond Pin- Pin having diamond shape in top view. Used to restrict only 2 direction. Mostly referred as
2 way pin.
14. Shim solid- Generally for the Mylar and Locating pin adjustment solid plate of 5 mm thk with various
size is used. Generally solid shim of 2 slot, 3 slot or 4 slot.
15. Shim Pack - Generally for the Mylar and Locating pin adjustment solid shim pack is used. 5 mm thk shim
pack has various option of 0.5mm x2, 1mmx2, 2mmx1 makes shim pack. Shim is of 2 slot/ hole, 3
slot/hole or 4 slot/hole

WHAT IS JIGS AND FIXTURE

A jig is a device attached to or to hold a work piece can be so that the work piece is accurately positioned
dimensionally and for repeatability during machining or another work piece during assembly.

A fixture is attached to or to hold a work piece or tool to provide support during machining. It does not
provide accuracy or repeatability other than to provide support.

Types of fixtures
Though fixtures are predominantly used in milling operation it is used in other operations like turning,
boring, welding and grinding. Fixtures are also made for inspection and assembly works. Moreover
fixtures are used for castings and forgings which are rough and irregular in shape. With the use of locators
and proper clamps, handling of those jobs will be made easy in fixtures than any other standard work
holding devices.

Adjustable fixture:
An adjustable fixture is one which is used in lathe where different cutting tools could be accommodated
in one set up, to turn work pieces of different shape and length. The position of the cutting tool is adjusted
by different gages.

Grinding fixtures:
When extreme accuracy is required for grinding parts like connecting rods, valve faces or bevel
gears, grinding fixtures are used and they hold parts with out any distortion. The positioning of the parts
in the fixture is very important and the clamping should be designed to cover the parts for which
machining is not required.

Welding fixture:
Welding fixtures are used to hold the parts in the required shape and is used from smaller parts to
larger parts of a plane. Before welding the parts are placed and positioned for the required shape. After
clamping the parts welding work will be carried out.
Assembly fixture:
Large components in airplanes are usually assembled with assembly fixtures. Pipelines and other
frames which are so lengthy will be placed in the fixture and assembled. As the use of fixture will be
more with lengthy or large components the fixture material has to be stiffer to avoid deflection. Some
parts are required to have simple operations like drilling or welding, after aligning with the adjacent parts.
An assembly fixture should have to be constructed to accommodate such situations.

Inspection fixtures:
The parts after getting finished with the manufacturing operation have to be checked for its accuracy
in shape or in dimension. That will be performed with inspection fixtures and they are extensively used in
automotive industries. The fixture will be the master in shape and every part will be compared for its
shape conformity. For checking the dimension, the fixture is prepared in such a way that it could
accommodate the correct dimensioned parts only.

Milling fixtures:
The use of fixture is oriented mostly with milling operation and there are different types of fixtures
available with milling operation.

Form milling fixture:

For milling ordinary contours like taking a slot or milling a side of a plate form milling fixture is
used. More than one component will be fixed in a row and the operation could be done in a single stroke.
The work should always be secured in such a way the thrust of the cutter is taken by the solid part of the
fixture.

Reciprocating fixture:
In a reciprocating milling fixture twin fixtures are mounted on a sliding table with its base fastened
to the milling machine. It facilitates the operator to unload or reload one work piece while the other one
will be under machining by moving the sliding table in a straight line. The table movement will be
achieved either by compressed air or hydraulic fluid.

Straddle milling fixture:

Straddle milling fixture is used where milling operation is required simultaneously on either side of a
component. This assures the parallelism of the component. Also in taking heavy cuts during the roughing
operation two components could be loaded so that this set up will save time.

Indexing fixtures:
When the milling operation is required to fall on a circular path indexing fixtures are used. For
milling gears indexing fixtures are used. With multiple indexing head more than one job can be milled at
the same time.

Multiple milling fixture:

When milling two or more surfaces of a same part which are in relation with each other multiple
head fixture are used. This is one type of the special milling fixtures and is used in machining two
cylinder faces of a V-engine cylinder block at a same time thereby saving more production time.
 Welding fixture
Geo station,respot station,deposit, nut runner,turn table,coneyor,choot, trollys etc.
3 2 1 Principle
In the automotive tooling industry you will hardly get any designer who does not know 3-2-1
principle. If the any part e.g steel block to be machined using milling machine;1st question the
milling machine operator will think how I will hold the part. Operator will use the various clamp
to hold the job to withstand the cutting forces. Ideally 3-2-1 principle is used to locate the job
.What 3 means ? What 2 mean ? What 1 mean? Simple they represent the directions. Any part
which has to be fixed during welding or during machining process has to be fixed. With this
principle. Every object is having 6 degrees of freedom.
1) Translational movement along X -axis
2) Translational movement along Y-axis
3) Translational movement along Z-Axis
4) Rotational movement along X -axis
5) Rotational movement along Y-axis
6) Rotational movement along Z-Axis

Without 3-2-1 principle it’s very difficult for the BIW product engineer, BIW process engineer or BIW
fixture design engineers to have same clamping and location scheme.
Any geometry is fixed or hold in position with the 3-2-1 principle. To restrict it transverse motion in X,
Y and Z direction and rotational movement in X, Y and Z direction object will be held in position with 3-
2-1 principle.
E.g.: Consider a solid cube lying on a XY Plane and Z is height.
3 Points in Z direction defines the plane and restrict it movement along Z and rotation along X and Y.
2 Points in X direction restrict its movement in X and rotation along Z.
1 Point in Y restricts its movement in Y.
This fundamental is used during the automotive body component design and welding tool design for its
manufacturing.
Car Lines in BIW
Why BIW Product designer and BIW tool designer always refer carlines?
Automotive sheet metal components are designed in CAD (Computer added Design ) software e.g.
Catiav4-v5, UG, proe, Ideas,
In any CAD tool there is default axis system X,Y,Z.
Lets us consider if every designer starts design of BIW Door Assembly part a default axis system, then it
will be difficult to assembly or position the part with respect to each other.
Due to avoid this issue. BIW car panel are designed with reference to CAR axis means at their original
position of finally built car.
Reference axis system of the software is used for design of the various features of the parts (e.g. Hole,
fillet, threads,) To correlate the position of all the automotive components during the final assembly the
axis system of the vehicle is used. Most of the time vehicle axis system and software axis system is same.
E.g. In most of European OEM X axis represents length of the vehicle Y axis represents width of the
vehicle Z axis presents height of the vehicle. Y axis is considered to be located at front axle. All BIW
welding fixtures are designed with reference to car line.

What is Hemming ?

The automotive industry uses two principal hemming processes: Conventional hemming and Roll
hemming . The conventional mechanical hemming process has 3 different steps .The first step is the
flanging operation bending the part to 90 degrees, the second step is the pre-hemming, in which the part is
bended 45 degrees more and the final step is the hemming in which the hemmed joint is obtained: The
roll hemming process consists in a rolling cylindrical tool turning all over the flange acting mechanically
over it and giving a progressive bending process . This process continues several times until the complete
hemmed joint is obtained. Usually the parts manufactured with this hemming process need several turns
of the roller hemming tool to complete the process starting from the flanging position. As the last or one
of the latest stage operations for the stamped parts, hemming has a critical importance on the performance
and perceived quality of assembled vehicles. Due to this required precision on the hemming process and
the complexity of the parts, most of the bending, flanging and hemming dies are designed based on
experience and on lengthy and costly die try-outs.

Dowels ?
 A spring dowel pin is simply a dowel pin made of high-carbon spring steel(EN-42J) having 44-51
HRC (hardness) and finds applications in varied fields. To fix the movement of the workpiece in
particular desired direction and to position and locate it in the desired place accurately and mostly to
locate holes in work piece.

Clinching Operation

Clinching (mechanical interlock) is a method of joining different metal parts (mainly sheets) by a process
of local deformation without use of any additional joining elements with the application of a punch and a
die.

Types of Spot Welding Guns

BIW welding fixture designer has to know more detail about the types of GUN.
Most of Engineers working in service engineers are not aware of various gun details as they are not able
to see the actual manufacturing and how welding is happening with gun.
At least designer should know
What is

 IT- Integral Transformer

 Non-IT- Transformer is separate from gun body.
 MFDC- Medium Frequency DC Gun.
Depending upon the application IT and NON IT Guns are selected.
It is very simple difference one with integrated transformer (IT) and other having transformer hanged on
cross rail.
IT guns are very easy to use as Non IT guns are having electrical cables coming from hanged transformer
It has been observed that for under body welding application where floor width is more it is better to used
Non IT gun.
In under body guns arm length is longer due to spot distance .Due to this weight increase and it is better
to use NON IT gun. Transformer is mounted/hanged on top.
Many OEM not preferring MFDC guns now adays. MFDC are costlier

Hole-Slot or Hole -Hole Strategy -Details needed

 Hole-Slot or Hole -Hole Strategy.

What is Hole - Hole strategy? In any sheet metal component to restrict the movement of panel , product
designer put 2 holes as per the requirement of process engineer as per the 3-2-1 principle.
Globally it is used by few OEM's Globally.

 What is Hole - Slot strategy?

 In any sheet metal component to restrict the movement of panel , product designer put hole and slot as per
the requirement of process engineer as per the 3-2-1 principle.
Globally it is used by most of the OEM's Globally.
Generally all BIW sheet metal component designer use hole and slot strategy or Hole -Hole (diamond pin
in second hole) for location of a panel.
Hole acts as 4 way location and slot acts as 2 way location.
I just read that discussion going on to have hole -hole location strategy for the panel location to have
better dimension control. Who has studied both the schemes on similar size components can share their
experience. Personally I have worked on hole - slot or hole -hole(but with diamond shape pin).

Basic Input required for BIW welding fixture design

Designer needs following basic information to start the BIW welding fixture.First understand scope of the
work. Means what is expected by customer. Every customer has its specific requirements and it may have
own raw material, electric, pneumatic,cad, design standards.Every customer also gives different inputs
and expects output e.g 2d drawing, process sheet in xls, pdf, CAD format of design, layout format, OLP.

 Bill of material (BOM) of the components to be welded- spot welding

 CAD panel data or at least 2D drawing of assembly and individual panel data
 Sheet metal panel thickness.Plays major role to decide 2 metal or 3 metal weld.
 Spot Detail information like total no of spots and spacing between the spots.
 Weld information clarity from drawing like 2 metal or 3 metal welding
 PLP (Principle location scheme) of the individual panel and total assembly.
 Cycle time - if calculated or can be found out as per manual or robotic welding process.
 Process sheet if Process engineering is done - where loading sequence, no of clamp data and gun data is
mentioned.
 All clamping cylinder and fixtures standards.
 CAD -Software guidelines
 Raw material standards
 Design guidelines
 Bought out item(Purchased parts) standards like pneumatic items, toggle clamp, bearing, screw, dowel etc
company information

How many resistance welding spots are generally done to weld BIW of a car?

Someone will ask - How many spot a typical car is having? This depends upon many parameters.
1) Type of car- Sedan, Estate, Limousine (Size of the car)etc 2) No of sheet metal parts assemblies used
to make the shell 3) Metal type used - Steel(alloy), Aluminium to form various sub-assemblies. If
Aluminium is used for BIW panels then there will be less resistance welding spots. As aluminium panels
will be riveted. I heard that no of spots in a car may vary from 3500 to 5500 No’s depending upon various
parameters. One thing is sure if you reduce spot you will be able to save electric power. Will it reduce the
cost of the vehicle? Not sure. As you eliminate spot, there might be use of aluminium or some composite
material. To use such material needs sophisticated technology to form the shape to attain the strength. To
use nonferrous metal different manufacturing approach is needed.

Role of Pneumatic/ Hydraulics in BIW welding fixture design

Pneumatic system-
 System operated with Air.
 Open loop system
 Generally used for low pressure
 Generally deliver es less force compared to hydraulic system
 Cheaper compared to hydraulic for basic cost. But compressor running cost is more
Hydraulic system-
 System operated with fluid- oil.
 Closed loop system
 High pressure system
 Generally used for heavy force delivery
 Initial cost is high
 More expensive
Pneumatic system is mostly preferred over hydraulic system in BIW welding fixture.
All toggle clamp , pin cylinder, slides are operated via pneumatic.
Generally cylinder are designed to operate max pressure 12-13 bar. As it expensive and difficult to
maintain 10-12 bar in shop floor it is preferred to do design pneumatic systems at 6 bar pressure
Resistance Welding Spot Category A,B,C
How many type of BIW Spot Categories are there in general? Or Do have any Idea about BIW
Resistance welding spot categories.
Generally there are 3 types.
 Which are these types?
Category A Category B Category C
 How they are defined?
Category A- Joint in case of failure will have human life threat.
Category B- Joint in case of failure will be have impact of unusable product (product will not serve the
intended purpose).
Category C- Joint in case of failure will have little impact on the usability of the product.
Heat Treatment Processes
 Hardening
Hardening involves heating of steel, keeping it at an appropriate temperature until all pearlite is
transformed into austenite, and then quenching it rapidly in water or oil. The temperature at which
austentizing rapidly takes place depends upon the carbon content in the steel used. The heating time
should be increased ensuring that the core will also be fully transformed into austenite. The
microstructure of a hardened steel part is ferrite, martensite, or cementite.

 Tempering
Tempering involves heating steel that has been quenched and hardened for an adequate period of time so
that the metal can be equilibrated. The hardness and strength obtained depend upon the temperature at
which tempering is carried out. Higher temperatures will result into high ductility, but low strength and
hardness. Low tempering temperatures will produce low ductility, but high strength and hardness. To
reduce their brittleness

 Annealing
Annealing involves treating steel up to a high temperature, and then cooling it very slowly to room
temperature, so that the resulting microstructure will possess high ductility and toughness, but low
hardness. Annealing is performed by heating a component to the appropriate temperature, soaking it at
that temperature, and then shutting off the furnace while the piece is in it.
 Normalizing
Normalizing involves heating steel, and then keeping it at that temperature for a period of time, and then
cooling it in air. The resulting microstructure is a mixture of ferrite and cementite which has a higher
strength and hardness, but lower ductility. Normalizing is performed on structures and structural
components that will be subjected to machining, because it improves the machinability of carbon steels.

 Carburization
It is a heat treatment process in which steel or iron is heated to a temperature, below the melting point, in
the presence of a liquid, solid, or gaseous material which decomposes so as to release carbon when heated
to the temperature used. The outer case or surface will have higher carbon content than the primary
material. When the steel or iron is rapidly cooled by quenching, the higher carbon content on the outer
surface becomes hard, while the core remains tough and soft.

 Surface Hardening
In many engineering applications, it is necessary to have the surface of the component hard enough to
resist wear and erosion, while maintaining ductility and toughness, to withstand impact and shock
loading. This can be achieved by local austentitizing and quenching, and diffusion of hardening elements
like carbon or nitrogen into the surface. Processes involved for this purpose are known as flame
hardening, induction hardening, nitriding and carbonitriding.
 Surface Hardening
In many engineering applications, it is necessary to have the surface of the component hard enough to
resist wear and erosion, while maintaining ductility and toughness, to withstand impact and shock
loading. This can be achieved by local austentitizing and quenching, and diffusion of hardening elements
like carbon or nitrogen into the surface. Processes involved for this purpose are known as flame
hardening, induction hardening, nitriding and carbonitriding
MATERIALS
 C45/s45c
 Nylon 66
 Teflon (poly tetra fluroethylene (PTFE)
 20mncr5
 EN31
 CIBA
 MS/SS400
 METALON
 D2
 ampco

WELDING USED IN BIW

 RESISTANCE WELDING
 MIG WELDING/CO2 WELDING
 LIMITS AND FITS

Allowance, Tolerance

Fits:-

The term fits refers to the degree of tightness or looseness between two mating parts. Depending upon the
actual limits of the hole and shaft.

1) Clearance fit.:- Loose fit,Running fit & sliding fit

2) Interference fit:- Tight Fit or Press Fit, Medium Force Fit & Shrink Fit or Heavy Force Fit
3) Transition Fit:- Push Fit, Force Fit or Shrink Fit, Wringing Fit
Shaft Basic System

Hole basis system

Bilateral Tolerance
Unilateral Tolerance
PEDESTAL,ROBOT CONTROLLER,WELD TIMER,PLC PANEL,STABILIZER, PY BOX,D-NET BOX,START BUTTON, SAFETY LIGHT
CURTAINS, HMI STAND,VALVE BANK, JUNCTION BOX, WATER HEADER, FRL UNIT,

SPRING CALCULATION

CYLINDER CALCULATION

TOGGLE CLAMP MECHANISM