Pennock's Fiero Forum Technical Discussion & Questions - Archive
I uncovered never seen photos of the Gilman Mill and Drill machine at the Fiero Plant (Page 2)
T H I S I S A N A R C H I V E D T O P I C
I uncovered never seen photos of the Gilman Mill and Drill machine at the Fiero Plant
I'm wondering why it needed such massive looking drills just to make holes in the plastic tabs on the body? Seems like it wouldn't take such a massive rig.
I believe it mills and drills the metal tabs on the chassis the panels fasten to.
Absolutely amazing information! Thank you for sharing!
FieroG97J you were so privileged to thumb through and be able to save a wealth of Fiero history! It would be awesome if you could share some photos of the prototype interiors and whole cars with PFF members.
P.S., make sure your Will states that all your Fiero files and records are to be donated to a Fiero museum or historical group rather than being hauled to the dump in case it hasen't been done before you pass away. It would be tragic to find this information ended-up being destroyed.
------------------ Now new owner of a Black TTop 88 Fiero GT and owner of a Silver 88 Fiero GT. Also a second time owner of an 85 Fiero GT. Bought my first fully loaded Red Fiero GT new in 1985. Fiero's are Fabulous, Fix'em and have Fun! Note, Avatar picture is Mr. Bean (not me, ha ha).
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10:57 PM
May 20th, 2012
Will Member
Posts: 14226 From: Where you least expect me Registered: Jun 2000
I believe it mills and drills the metal tabs on the chassis the panels fasten to.
There are a series of epoxy pads riveted to the steel body. The mill/drill machine mills them all to height and drills all the mounting holes in the epoxy pads such that the panels fit the same way on every body.
Wow... Boy have we come a long way... One or two small robots now prolly does the same thing and you dont need a 2k sq ft area to fit them Look at all the steel used to make that beast! Daaaaammmm, that sucker is big; makes my drill-press look like a sewing needle. You could power a small town w/ the amount of electricity that thing uses...
I believe the reason this machine is so massive is, A) to keep all the drills aligned for repeatability, so that all Fieros have the same hole pattern, and B) to have the machine be able to monitor all the Drill/mill heads and signal when replacement is necessary.....However, I am sure that a new fixture could be substantially lighter and less complicated, allowing electronics to run most of it and do a better job of monitoring.......I still believe this was an amazing technological leap, and created a realatively high-quality aligned body.
Can you imagine how much better the Fiero would be if it were built with today’s technology? I work in the Industrial Automation industry and in the last 10 to 15 years the precision has increase 100 fold (if not more). The way the car was built wouldn’t be necessary as the frame and panels would be so precise that they would fit without any adjustments needed at all. Oh well.
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05:38 PM
PontiacJoe1995 Member
Posts: 184 From: Jim Thorpe PA , S.I NYC. Registered: Nov 2011
Can you imagine how much better the Fiero would be if it were built with today’s technology? I work in the Industrial Automation industry and in the last 10 to 15 years the precision has increase 100 fold (if not more). The way the car was built wouldn’t be necessary as the frame and panels would be so precise that they would fit without any adjustments needed at all. Oh well.
Wow, can you imagine a Fiero with tight fitting body panels? lol I bondo'd my panels together because I didn't like the gaps.
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11:46 PM
May 21st, 2012
Will Member
Posts: 14226 From: Where you least expect me Registered: Jun 2000
Can you imagine how much better the Fiero would be if it were built with today’s technology? I work in the Industrial Automation industry and in the last 10 to 15 years the precision has increase 100 fold (if not more). The way the car was built wouldn’t be necessary as the frame and panels would be so precise that they would fit without any adjustments needed at all. Oh well.
I suspect that part of the reason that the Fiero was built that way is so that the required precision for assembling the body would be much lower. The steel could be assembled with a relative lack of precision and the mill/drill process would make up for it. This was possible because the rear quarters were not integral with the body as they are with most metal bodies cars.
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10:14 AM
doublec4 Member
Posts: 8289 From: Oakville, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jun 2003
I'm wondering why it needed such massive looking drills just to make holes in the plastic tabs on the body? Seems like it wouldn't take such a massive rig.
They weren't just drills, each mill and drill head milled the epoxy-in-metal tabs down to the correct height thickness and drilled the mounting hole in it at the same time
oops already answered, I missed a page
[This message has been edited by GTMN (edited 01-30-2013).]
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10:56 PM
Mar 8th, 2013
Tony Kania Member
Posts: 20794 From: The Inland Northwest Registered: Dec 2008
I had not seen this when it was originally posted. This literature is phenomenal. It's got to be one of the coolest pieces of literature I've seen for the Fiero, I'd love to have this piece in my collection.
Originally posted by firejo24: Can you imagine how much better the Fiero would be if it were built with today’s technology? I work in the Industrial Automation industry and in the last 10 to 15 years the precision has increase 100 fold (if not more). The way the car was built wouldn’t be necessary as the frame and panels would be so precise that they would fit without any adjustments needed at all. Oh well.
I guess that's why so many cars are leaving the factory now without slotted strut holes for camber adjustment.
Look at all the steel used to make that beast! Daaaaammmm, that sucker is big; makes my drill-press look like a sewing needle. You could power a small town w/ the amount of electricity that thing uses...
Awesome original post!
