The current practice of securing two or more structural pieces together by one or more fasteners typically involves first clamping the pieces together with holes through the two pieces being aligned. Alternatively, the pieces can be clamped together and then holes can be formed through the pieces. A fastener, for example a rivet is then inserted through each of the holes with the rivet head positioned on one side of the structural pieces and the rivet tail projecting from the opposite side of the structural pieces. A bucking bar is typically manually positioned against the rivet tail while the rivet head is hammered by a rivet hammer. The force of the rivet hammer on the rivet head and the force of the bucking bar on the rivet tail causes the bucking bar to deform the rivet tail into a buck tail or shop head that secures the rivet in place in the rivet hole between the structural pieces and thereby rivets the structural pieces together.
Electromagnets have been employed in clamping two or more structural pieces together prior to their being secured together by fasteners. Current electromagnetic clamping technology typically employs an electromagnet as one clamping component and one or more steel plates as additional clamping components. The steel plate or plates have pluralities of holes that are positioned in the plates to correspond to fastener locations through the structural pieces. The steel plates are positioned on one side of the structural pieces and the electromagnet is positioned on the opposite side of the structural pieces. The electromagnet is then energized or activated, drawing the steel plates toward the electromagnet and clamping the structural pieces between the plates and the electromagnet. The holes through the steel plates enable fastener holes to be drilled through the clamped structural pieces and fasteners to be placed in the holes. Where the fasteners are rivets, a bucking bar is then manually inserted through the hole in the steel plate and against a tail of the rivet while the head of the rivet on the opposite side of the structural pieces is hammered by a rivet hammer, thereby forming the rivet tail into a shop head and securing the structural pieces together. This basic process is also performed when installing HI-LOK type fasteners or lock bolts in structural pieces.
This prior art electromagnetic clamping technology has the disadvantages of the need to position the steel plate or plates against one side of the structural pieces to be fastened together prior to the fastening process. It is often necessary to secure the steel plates against the one side of the structural pieces, for example by screws or clamps prior to fasteners being installed. The positioning and securing of the steel plates to the structural pieces to be joined is a time consuming process and an ergonomically demanding process, especially when hundreds of these types of steel plates have to be preinstalled in order to fasten together structural pieces of a large structure, such as an aircraft.