Door seal drilling and pinning

A flexible seal processing machine, for processing an elongate strip of flexible seal material, having a length, said flexible seal processing machine comprising:

• (a) a feed apparatus for feeding lengths of such flexible seal material into said machine;
• (b) a work station comprising a guide bed receiving such flexible seal material and guiding such flexible seal material along a path of travel between a feed end of said work station and an exit end of said work station;
• (c) an air chamber positioned below said guide bed and adapted to expel air upwardly through holes extending between the air chamber and said guide bed to facilitate movement of such flexible seal material along the path of travel, on the guide bed;
• and
• (d) a hole forming and pinning apparatus adjacent said work station, adapted to form holes in such flexible seal material, and to insert pins into holes so formed.

A method of processing flexible seal material, having a length, in a flexible seal processing machine, the method comprising:

• (a) fixing a length of a strip of flexible seal material on a work station;
• (b) making a first hole in the flexible seal material using a hole forming apparatus;
• and
• (c) while maintaining the flexible seal material in a longitudinally fixed condition on the work station, sensing the location of the first hole in the flexible seal material, and, based on the sensed location of the first hole in the flexible seal material, moving the hole forming apparatus along the length of the flexible seal material to a location, displaced from the first hole by a predetermined target distance, and forming the second hole.

A method of fabricating flexible seals from a strip of flexible seal material, having a length, in a flexible seal processing machine, the method comprising:

• (a) placing lengths of the flexible seal material at a work station;
• (b) forming holes for mounting pins at a hole forming section of the work station;
• and
• (c) inserting pins in the formed holes at a pinning section of the work station displaced and distinct from the hole forming section of the work station;
• wherein the pinning section is displaced from the hole forming section by a distance approximating a distance between sequential holes in the seal strip.

A method of fabricating flexible seals from a strip of flexible seal material, having a length, in a flexible seal processing machine, the method comprising:

• (a) placing lengths of the flexible seal material at a work station;
• (b) forming holes for mounting pins at a hole forming section of the work station;
• (c) inserting pins in the formed holes at a pinning section of the work station displaced and distinct from the hole forming section of the work station;
• and
• (d) employing a sensor to inspect each hole formed, and each pin inserted, while the strip of flexible seal material is at the work station.

A method of fabricating flexible seals from a strip of flexible seal material, having a length, in a flexible seal processing machine, the method comprising:

• (a) placing lengths of the flexible seal material at a work station;
• (b) forming holes for mounting pins at a hole forming section of the work station;
• and (c) inserting pins in the formed holes at a pinning section of the work station displaced and distinct from the hole forming section of the work station;
• (d) employing a sensor to inspect each hole formed, and each pin inserted, while the strip of flexible seal material is at the work station;
• and
• (e) feeding the results of the sensor inspections to a computer controller, and employing the computer controller to make automatic accept/reject decisions based on the recited inspections by the sensor.

A method of fabricating flexible seals from a strip of flexible seal material, having a length, in a flexible seal processing machine, the method comprising:

• (a) placing lengths of the flexible seal material at a work station;
• (b) forming holes for mounting pins at a hole forming section of the work station;
• and (c) inserting pins in the formed holes at a pinning section of the work station displaced and distinct from the hole forming section of the work station;
• (d) employing a sensor to inspect each hole formed, and each pin inserted, while the strip of flexible seal material is at the work station;
• (e) feeding the results of the sensor inspections to a computer controller, and employing the computer controller to make automatic accept/reject decisions based on the recited inspections by the sensor;
• and
• (f) providing the computer controller with reference images, and threshold criteria for making accept/reject decisions based on the reference images, and using the reference images and threshold criteria to automatically make accept/reject decisions for each work piece of flexible seal material processed.

A method of processing flexible seal material, in a flexible seal processing machine, the method comprising:

• (a) feeding lengths of flexible seal material into the machine;
• (b) receiving the flexible seal material at a work station comprising a guide bed, and guiding the flexible seal material along a path of travel between a feed end of the work station and an exit end of the work station, and expelling air upwardly through the guide bed and thereby facilitating movement of the flexible seal material along the path of travel, on the guide bed;
• and
• (c) using a forming and pinning apparatus adjacent the work station, forming holes in the flexible seal material, and inserting pins in the holes so formed.

A flexible seal processing machine, for processing an elongate strip of flexible seal material, having a length, said flexible seal processing machine comprising:

• (a) a work station, comprising a guide bed having a first elongate dimension for receiving and holding thereon an elongate strip of flexible seal material having a length aligned with the first elongate dimension;
• (b) a clamp apparatus for clamping the elongate strip of flexible seal material to said guide bed;
• (c) an electronic computer controller controlling operation of said flexible seal processing machine;
• (d) a hole forming apparatus and a hole pinning apparatus disposed along said guide bed for forming holes in such strip of flexible seal material, and for inserting pins into such holes;
• and
• (e) a camera positioned in combination with the work station so as to capture an image of a hole formed in such flexible seal material, or a pin inserted into such flexible seal material, from an angle of at least 30 degrees with respect to a surface of such seal material in which such hole is formed and/or such pin is inserted.

A flexible seal processing machine, for processing an elongate strip of flexible seal material, having a length, said flexible seal processing machine comprising:

• (a) a feed apparatus for feeding lengths of such flexible seal material along a path of travel to a work station;
• (b) a hole forming apparatus adapted to remove material from such flexible seal material thereby to create a hole having an open cross-section area which is devoid of such flexible seal material;
• and
• (c) a hole pinning apparatus adapted to be positioned at a pinning section of the work station, displaced from the hole forming section by a distance approximating a desired hole-to-hole distance between sequential holes in such flexible seal material, adapted to insert pins in holes which are formed at the hole forming section.