IJIRST International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 3 | Issue 02 | July 2016

ISSN (online): 2349-6010

Design and Development of Tacking and Welding

Fixture for Mixing Drum of 10/7 Concrete Mixer
Amasidha Kallappa Athani
M.E Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering
A. G. Patil Institute of Technology, Solapur

Prof. R. R. Anyapanawa
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
A. G. Patil Institute of Technology, Solapur

Abstract
In this paper three tacking and welding fixtures are designed for fabricating the mixing drum of 10/7 concrete mixer by using
CATIA V5R16 software and all these fixtures are developed by using general purpose structural steel like HR plates, ERW pipe,
MS channel, EN8Round bar etc. Stopwatch time study method is used to note down the time required to complete the fabrication
of mixing drum with and without using the fixtures. The obtained results are compared and % improvement in the productivity
of mixing drum due to use of fixtures is calculated. The results of circular runout of mixing drum is also compared which are
note down on the mixing drum fabricated with and without using the fixtures.
Keywords: Concrete mixer, Mixing Drum, Productivity, Tacking and welding fixture
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I.

INTRODUCTION

10/7 concrete mixer is one of the most commonly used machine to prepare the concrete at faster rate. Concrete mixing drum is
one of the important parts of this machine. Till today many competitors of universal are using casted mixing drum in 10/7
concrete mixer machine. Generally for manufacturing the mixing drum sand casting method is used. In casted mixing drum the
gear ring used for rotating the drum is integral part of drum. The total weight of mixing drum along with 104 teeth gear ring is
254.76 Kg. The top cone and bottom cone shape is conical due this complicated shape and large size the manufacturing cost of
mixing drum is more. Due to this reason Universal construction machinery and equipments Ltd. has decided to replace this
casted mixing drum with sheet metal mixing drum with intension to reduce its weight and cost. Universal designed completely
new mixing drum in sheet metal for 10/7 concrete mixer and manufactured first sample piece in their R& D department and
tested it thoroughly for its performance then they decided to regularize this mixing drum in their regular production. The mixing
drum is having complicated shape and large size due to this reason it is not possible to manufacture this drum in single piece. So
that the total drum is divided in to seven sheet metal parts like Bottom plate, Drum pipe, Bottom cone, Middle shell, Top cone,
Discharge ring and flap. All these parts are joined together by using CO2 welding process. This project is mainly focus on design
and develops the tacking and welding fixture to solve the problem of distortion and improve the productivity by reducing the
production time. Mass production aims at high productivity to reduce unit cost, and interchangeability to facilitate easy
assembly. This necessitates production devices to increase the rate of manufacture. Manufacture activity includes fabrication,
machining, assembly and inspection etc. Production devices are generally work holders with/without tool guiding or setting
arrangement. These are called Jigs and fixture. Jigs and fixture provide a means of manufacturing interchangeable parts on mass
scale since they eliminate the necessity of special setup for each individual part. Once a jig or fixture is properly setup, then any
number of duplicate parts may be produced without additional setup.10/7 concrete mixer mixing drums manufactured without
fixture have some problems as mentioned below
1) Drum rotate with 30-35mm run out due to distortion caused by welding process.
2) Bearings used for mounting the mixing drum gates failed frequently due to run out problem.
3) About 7 to 8 hours time is required to manufacture the mixing drum by existing method i.e. without fixture.
II. 3D MODELS OF WELDING FIXTURE
The main task in this project is to design and develop the tacking and welding fixture for mixing drum of 10/7 concrete mixer.
After detailed study of existing process of manufacturing the mixing drum in Universal without using any fixture it is decided
that to design the suitable fixture for tacking and welding of mixing drum. In this project for developing the fixture models
CATIA V5R16 is used. In the first stage 3D models of the welding fixture are developed in CATIA and its drafting is also done
in the CATIA V5R16. These drawings are used for manufacturing the welding fixtures. Due to the large size and complicated
shape of mixing drum it is not possible to manufacture the complete mixing drum in a single fixture. Therefore total three fixture
are developed for simplify this fabrication task. In this chapter we will discuss the detailed construction and its use for
manufacturing the mixing drum one by one.

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Design and Development of Tacking and Welding Fixture for Mixing Drum of 10/7 Concrete Mixer
(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 02/ 063)

Bottom Half Part of Mixing Drum Tacking and Welding Fixture:

Total three fixtures are used to fabricate the complete mixing drum in this the first fixture i.e. Bottom half part of mixing drum
tacking and welding fixture is used to tack and weld the parts like Bottom plate ,Drum pipe , Bottom cone, Middle shell together
after that internal full welding is carried out in the same fixture. In this first of all Bottom plate is placed on the base plate of this
fixture and drum pipe is inserted on the fixture shaft. At the bottom side of this shaft guiding collar is fitted which correctly
locate and position the drum pipe exactly at the bottom plate center and perpendicular to its surface. Drum pipe position is fixed
by inserting bearing collar at the top of drum pipe. Then the middle shell is inserted in the fixture. The shell bottom side rest on
the machined middle plate of fixture. Then middle shell position is fixed by clamping it at its top edge by using toggle clamp
fitted on the fixture top plate. Then bottom cone is inserted in the middle shell and it is pushed in the downward direction. To
push it in downward direction bottom cone pressing and holding cone is inserted on drum pipe and nut fitted on fixture shaft and
it is tightened till to bottom cone touch to the surface of bottom plate firmly. After inserting each part at its proper position in the
fixture they are tacked together to fix their position and finally internal full welding is done in the clamped condition. The
complete bottom half part of mixing drum in the welding fixture is as shown in the figure.

Fig. 1: 3D Model of tacking and welding fixture of Bottom half part of mixing drum

Top half part of mixing drum tacking and welding fixture

To fabricate the top half part of mixing drum second fixture is used i.e. Top half part tacking and welding fixture. In this fixture
three parts are there first one is Top cone locating fixture, second one is discharge ring clamp and Nut. First of all the top cone is
inserted in the top cone locator fixture with small conical portion of top cone in the upward direction. The base of top cone will
rest on the bottom plate top surface in between the stopper fitted on the top surface of bottom plate of top cone locating fixture.
The upper open surface of top cone will rest on the vertical surface of top cone locater plate. In this way the motion of top cone
is restricted in all direction except in upward direction. Then the discharge manufactured on press machine is inserted in the top
cone locator fixture above the top cone. The bottom portion of discharge ring will rest on the vertical surface of remaining half
portion of top cone locator plate. In the next step the discharge ring and top cone are clamped together by using discharge ring
clamp and nut. The discharge ring clamp is placed on the top surface of discharge ring and nut is tightened till to have the proper
alignment of discharge ring and top cone. Finally tacking and welding is carried out in the sane fixture. The top half part of
mixing drum tacking and welding fixture is as shown in the figure.

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Design and Development of Tacking and Welding Fixture for Mixing Drum of 10/7 Concrete Mixer
(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 02/ 063)

Fig. 2: 3D Model of Top half part of mixing drum tacking and welding fixture

Top and Bottom half part assembly and welding fixture

This fixture is used to assemble and weld the top half and bottom half part of mixing drum fabricated in the first and second
fixture. In this fixture first of all with the help of EOT crane the top half part of mixing drum is inserted in the fixture in inverted
position. The discharge ring of the top half part of mixing drum will rest on the bottom plate in the groove. The vertical flat
welded on the surface of bottom plate will locate the top half part of mixing drum. Then the readily fabricated bottom half part of
mixing drum is inserted in the fixture in the inverted position with the help of EOT carne. The fixed bearing collar fitted on the
pipe support plate of the fixture will locate the drum pipe of bottom half part of mixing drum. Then the movable bearing collar is
inserted at the bottom of drum pipe. After completing proper locating of top half and bottom half part of mixing drum both parts
are clamped together by tightening the clamp nut with the help of Tommy bar. After completing the clamping finally all external
full welding is done in the same fixture. Before removing the mixing drum from the fixture it is allowed to cool down in the
clamped condition. The mixing drum in the fixture is as shown in the figure

Fig. 3: 3D Model of mixing drum in Top and Bottom half part assembly and welding fixture.

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Design and Development of Tacking and Welding Fixture for Mixing Drum of 10/7 Concrete Mixer
(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 02/ 063)

III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Improvement in Productivity of Mixing Drum
Table 1
Time required completing the fabrication of the mixing drum without using fixture
Time required to complete operation (Minute)
Sr. No
Part Name
Operation
1
2
3
1
Bottom half part of mixing drum
Tacking
117.57
121.08
119.31
2
Bottom half part of mixing drum
Welding
53.05
50.47
52.56
3
Top half part of mixing drum
Tacking
22.07
19.53
20.14
4
Top half part of mixing drum
Welding
8.41
8.29
8.37
5
Top and bottom half part of mixing drum
Tacking
40.12
37.58
39.36
6
Top and bottom half part of mixing drum
Welding
46.54
46.05
45.48
7
Mixing drum
Finishing
41.23
43.09
42.38
Total time required to complete the fabrication of mixing drum
328.94
326.09
327.6
Table 2
Time required completing the fabrication of the mixing drum by using fixture
Time required to complete operation (Minute)
Sr. No
Part Name
Operation
1
2
3
1
Bottom half part of mixing drum
Tacking
36.55
38.08
37.12
2
Bottom half part of mixing drum
Welding
48.23
49.17
50.06
3
Top half part of mixing drum
Tacking
10.44
11.09
10.56
4
Top half part of mixing drum
Welding
8.03
8.31
8.27
5
Top and bottom half part of mixing drum
Tacking
17.19
16.48
15.57
6
Top and bottom half part of mixing drum
Welding
44.14
45.43
46.06
7
Mixing drum
Finishing
22.02
19.51
20.24
Total time required to complete the fabrication of mixing drum
186.6
188.07
187.88

Avg. time required (Minute)

119.32
52.02
20.58
8.35
39.02
46.02
42.23
327.54

Avg. time required (Minute)

37.25
49.15
10.69
8.20
49.24
45.21
20.59
187.51

Total time saved due to use of tacking and welding fixture for fabricating mixing drum = (A B)
= 327.54 187.51
= 140.03 Minutes
Percentage productivity improvement = [(A B) / A ] X 100
Percentage productivity improvement = [(327.54 187.51) / 327.54] X 100
Percentage productivity improvement = 42.75
Where,
A= Avg. time required to fabricate the mixing drum without fixture
B= Avg. time required to fabricate the mixing drum with fixture
Overall 42.75 % productivity is improved due to the use of tacking and welding fixture for fabricating the mixing drum of 10/7
concrete mixer.

Fig. 4: Comparative results of time required to complete the fabrication of mixing drum

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Design and Development of Tacking and Welding Fixture for Mixing Drum of 10/7 Concrete Mixer
(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 02/ 063)

Reduction in the Value of Circular Runout of Mixing Drum:

Sr.No.

Part Name

Mixing drum

Sr.No.

Part Name

Mixing drum

Table 3
Circular runout of the mixing drum fabricated without fixture.
Observations (mm)
Parameter to be measured Instrument used
1
2
3
Circular runout
Metric tape
32
31
34
Table 4
Circular runout of the mixing drum fabricated with fixture
Observations (mm)
Parameter to be measured Instrument used
1
2
3
Dial indicator
Circular runout
4.10 3.82 3.94
(0-10 mm)

Avg. Circular runout (mm)

32.33

Avg. Circular runout (mm)

3.95

Fig. 5: Comparative results of circular runout of mixing drum fabricated without and with fixture

The avg. circular runout observed on the mixing drum fabricated without fixture is 32.33mm and on the mixing drum
fabricated with fixture it is observed 3.95mm
Due to the use of welding fixtures for fabricating the mixing drum of 10/7 concrete mixer the average circular runout reduced
by 28.38mm
IV. CONCLUSION
In this project the most challenging task is design and develop the suitable tacking and welding fixtures for fabricating the
mixing drum of 10/7 concrete mixer. From obtained result I would like to conclude that
Total three fixtures are developed for fabricating the mixing drum namely Bottom half part of mixing tacking and welding
fixture, Top half part of mixing drum tacking and welding fixture and Top and Bottom half part of mixing drum assembly and
welding fixture. All these three fixtures 3D model is developed in CATIA V5R16.
Stopwatch time study method is used to note down how much time is required to complete the fabrication of mixing drum
with and without using fixtures. Total on an average 327.54 minutes are required to complete the fabrication of mixing drum
without using fixtures and only 187.51 minutes are required to complete the fabrication of mixing drum by using fixtures.
Due to use of newly developed fixtures for fabricating the mixing drum total 140.03 minutes time is saved per mixing drum.
In terms of productivity it is observed that overall 42.75% productivity is improved.
Circular runout is measured by using Metric tape and Dial indicator, on an average 32.33mm circular runout is observed on
mixing drum manufactured without using fixtures and it is observed only 3.95 mm on mixing drum manufactured by using
fixtures. Due to use of newly developed fixtures for fabricating the mixing drum circular runout is reduced by 28.38 mm.
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Liu Xu, Chao Ma ,Xia Xie, Design of Automobile Body Welding Fixture, International Conference on Automobile and Traffic Science, Materials,
Metallurgy Engineering, Proceedings of the (2012) 0234-0236.
M. Vural , H.F. Muzafferoglu, U.C. Tapici, The effect of welding fixtures on welding distortions, Journal of Achievements in Materials and
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