I have an ABS plastic pipe. It is .920" in diameter and is 1.250" long. At one end there is a thru hole going thru the two walls of the pipe. It is .094" dia. I need to insert a .915" long pin in this .094" hole but I don't know how I can roll the tube to be in the right position for the pin to be inserted. The part would slowly rotate and I would like a sensor that would send a ray of light that would go thru the .094 hole to a receiver that would indicate when the tube is in the exact position for a pin to be inserted. If one thought of the part as the face of a watch, the pin would go through the pipe from the 12 o'clock position to the 6 o'clock position. If the pipe was at the 11:55 position the sensor would find the part is NOT in the proper position and would cause the part to rotate until it is at the 12 o'clock position. Part would stop and the pin would be inserted.

Does anyone have an idea of what type of sensor I might use?

Thank you,
Rudy

 

I think it would be easier to machine a small indent in the lower collar and simply mechanically align the cylinder with some kind of spring loaded ball bearing.

 

Is it a pipe or a nipple? Have the vendor, who drills the hole........drill it in reference to the seam of the nipple.

Now you can use that seam as your jig's reference.

OR....place pipe in jig........now drill hole at angle you want....then insert pin at same angle.

 

I agree that a mechanical solution is best. I would make a jig out of a block of metal. It would have a 0.92" hole in one face with the edge of the hole about 0.75" from the top face. As the part has a shoulder on on end when it was pushed into the hole it's axial position in the hole would be defined. You would then have another hole in the top face positioned to line up with the hole in the part. The pin would be inserted into this hole with a small amount of pressure applied and the part rotated until it located with the hole in the part. You would probably need a slight chamfer or radius on the end of the pin. The required axial force could then be applied to the pin to insert it into it's final position. The fact that most of the length of the pin will be in the hole in the jig will keep it aligned. You do not say if the process is to be carried out manually or in some kind of machine. A variation on this would be to have a spring loaded ball detent in the bottom of the jig to line up with the hole in the part. The slight vertical movement of the ball could operate a contact that could be used to stop the rotation of the part when the ball engaged with the hole in the part.

Les.

 

The spring loaded ball or pin is a very easily sourced thing called a "Vlier pin". They are used in fixtures and machines to do what your asking and other things as needed. There are other companies making them too, but they all go by the common name of 'vlier pin' like tissues are all called kleenex.

Just one of the many styles available - http://www.vlier.com/product_index/sld/stb_03_long-travel.html