Welding assembly apparatus for welding fasteners to a component and method of welding fasteners to the component

A method of operating a welding assembly apparatus to weld resilient sleeve fasteners onto a component, comprising the steps of:

• providing a feed channel and an axially displaceable holder cooperating with the feed channel at one end and open at the other ends the axially displaceable holder being in the form of a rigid tube into which the resilient sleeve fasteners are guided for welding;
• inserting the resilient sleeve fasteners into the feed channel, without previous sorting to ensure correct positioning;
• and
• providing a pulse of compressed air to the feed channel to guide the resilient sleeve fasteners into an initial position in the rigid tube for advancement toward and welding to the component, the rigid tube being configured to directly contact and completely encircle an exterior surface of a resilient sleeve fastener to be welded, said rigid tube also being configured to electrically communicate with the resilient sleeve fastener to be welded to transmit welding current thereto.

A method of welding resilient sleeve fasteners at a welding site, comprising the steps of:

• inserting the resilient sleeve fasteners into a feed channel;
• providing a rigid tube to receive the resilient sleeve fasteners from the feed channel and to frictionally engage and electrically contact the resilient sleeve fasteners;
• and
• axially displacing the rigid tube to present a frictionally engaged resilient sleeve fastener to the welding site;
• and
• welding the resilient sleeve fastener at the welding site.