The challenge was to maintain the the air gap between the stator and rotor of an electric motor while the end plates were clinched to the stator assembly.
The solution was to create a shim pack assembly that was attached to the rotor before it was inserted into the stator. The shims maintained the air gap during the clinching process. Small cam lobes opened the shim arms as the assembly was inserted through the motor end plate. A square cam block was designed to open the shim pack at the proper time and then close them again to clamp onto the end plate. After the assembly process was complete the entire shim pack was then automatically removed from the completed motor and transferred upstream on a conveyor system to be used once again. The shim pack assembly was able accommodate different size motors by using different length
shims.
This equipment ran for over 18 years!