Fig. 1. Aluminum beam builder. 2. ALUMINUM BEAM BUILDER Design and Development Basic to the design of the beam builder was the idea that the machine must be capable of transforming high density, low volume material brought into space into lightweight, high volume structural beams in space. Ideally, this would apply to the production of all the structural members to be formed and assembled to fabricate the beam components, three to continuously form the beam caps and three with appropriate cut-off and handling devices to form the braces and bring them into assembly position. Cost restraints and the desire to have the demonstration machine fit within the Orbiter payload bay accounted for the present configuration of the beam builder: three cap forming machines and preformed brace storage, dispensing and handling devices (Figure 1). Beam Cap Forming Two approaches to forming the open beam cap shown in Figure 2 were considered: roll forming and step pressing. Development tests were conducted utilizing available production equipment (Figures 3 and 4). Both approaches formed acceptable caps. However, it became clear that while the roll forming required more tooling, the length within which the beam cap could be formed was considerably less than that of the step press, with its finite forming station lengths, and required step to step transition zone. Brace Storage, Dispensing and Transporting The initial approach was to have the brace storage, dispensing and transporting all performed in one package (Figure 5). The concept had the entire package moving to the brace fastening position, picking off one brace and camming it into position on the beam cap for the clamp and fastening mechanism to hold it while the entire package retracted to its clear position. At the PDR (preliminary design review), it
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