What is BIW ?

BIW-Body in White
In the Automotive Industry BIW (Body in White) is the common terminology used to mention
the car sheet metal welded structure (body shell).

In today's situation, automotive BIW is made of steel (various steel grade material -DP, DD,
HDP etc.) as well as made of aluminium alloy (e.g. AUDI A8)

Sub-assemblies like Under body, Body side Left Hand Side/ Right Hand Side, Front End,
Roof etc. gets welded together by various metal joining process e.g. resistance spot
welding, Laser welding, MIG welding to make welded metal shell (Without Door, Trunk-lid /
Tailgate) , Fender, Bonnet Center) called Body in White.
Automotive car shell made before painting is called Body in White.

BIW joinery decides the exterior and interior look of any car.
All the Interior Parts(Commonly used in Automotive) e.g. Dashboard, Trim (Door Trim, Pillar
Trims, Roof liner, Seats are mounted on the BIW shell with the help of various brackets or
nuts mounted on the BIW.
Exterior (Commonly used term in car industry) components e.g. Front Bumper, Rear
Bumper, Fender LH/RH, Side Mirrors are mounted on the BIW shell with the help of various
brackets or mounting systems.

5) BIW Fixture designer Engineer

 Who works with product designer, process planner and die designer
 Who decides or help product designer to decide the PLP.
 Who designs spot welding fixture.
 Who works with process planner to finalize the cycle time?

Now a days companies want tool to be ready from deign to installation within span of
max 16-22 week, which is quite challenging task.

What is BIW?
BIW (short for Body in White) is a stage in automotive design and
manufacturing. BIW refers to the body shell design of an automotive product such as cars.
It is just a sheet metal welded structure. BIW will not have doors, engines, chassis or any
other moving parts

Why it is called BIW?

In early years car shell structure were kept in white color
before assembling suspension, engine. It is kept white to give a color choice
to customer. Now term remains the same and refers to the welded sheet
metal structure.

What is Welding Fixture Design?

In every production process where welding or robotic welding is necessary,
high-quality, accurate welding fixtures determine the quality of the final
product. A welding fixture is used to position product parts for welding. This
secures the geometry of the product parts.

BIW Types

1.Body on Frame Construction

2. Chassis in built in Body

BIW Components

 A,B,C,D Pillars
 Dashboard mounting panel
 Windscreen & Rear Window rail
 Cant rail
 Roof structure
 Side Sill
 Upper quarter panel or window
 Front longitudinal member (acts as chassis)
 Front cross member
 Front & rear Valance
 Scuttle
 Firewall
 Floor, seat & Boot pan
 Front & rear Spring tower
 Central Tunnel
 Front & Rear Wheel arch
 Toe Board
 Heel Board
Materials used in BIW are listed as below:

 Steel
 Aluminium
 CFRP (Carbon fiber reinforced plastic)

1.What is BIW?
Ans: Body in White ( Sheet Metal Body structure joined via spot, MIG/TIG or laser welding )
Detailed explained earlier blog
2.What is 3-2-1- principle? Please explain

Any geometry is fixed or hold in position with the 3-2-1 principle. To restrict it transverse
motion in X, Y and Z direction and rotational movement in X,Yand Z direction object will be
held in position with 3-2-1 principle.
e.g.: Consider a solid cube lying on a XY Plane and Z is height.

3 Points in Z direction defines the plane and restrict it movement along Z and rotation along
X and Y.
2 Points in X direction restrict its movement in X and rotation along Z.
1 Point in Y restricts its movement in Y.
This fundamental is used during the automotive body component design and welding tool
design for its manufacturing.
Question1: Why 3 points are required to rest any component. Answer: Basic mathematics.
Question 2: How many points are required to define a Plane?
Answer: 3 Points required to define any plane.
ax+by+cz=d (Equation of a Plane). Minimum 3 points are required to define a plane.
3.What is PLP or RPS ? Please explain

Ans- Principle Location Point

4) Why shimming is done BIW fixture?

The general answer to take care sheet metal manufacturing tolerance ( mostly profile, and
position tolerance)

Shim Pack - Generally for the Mylar and Locating pin adjustment solid shim pack is used. 5
mm thk shim pack has various option of 0.5mm x2, 1mmx2, 2mmx1 makes shim pack.
Shim is of 2 slot/ hole, 3 slot/hole or 4 slot/hole

5) Why 2 way shimming is done in the panel?

Ans: For hole to adjust in both direction and for the panel if the panel and mylar
intersection angle is more than 15%

6) What is Mylar? or What is Rest block or Clamp block? Explain

Ans: Rest or Clamp block which is holding the panel.

7) What is Riser? Is it gascut or welded structure?

Ans: Welded or gas cut structure which is mounted on the base plate and hold rest, clamp
block and clamp or location pin.
8) Why dowels are used in BIW?

Ans: Dowel is a hardened turned component mostly having a press-fit tolerance used to
location two different parts or assemblies together.

9) What is tolerance on dowel?

The hardness of the components into which the dowel is to be fitted.

TOLERANCES AND FITS. Our range standardises on m6 tolerance, which
corresponds to the ISO and DIN standards*. The m6 tolerance is a
'plus tolerance' range and is normally used for interference fits.
10) What is the general thickness of Mylar?

Ans : Depends upon steel or Plastic mylar; generally for steel 20x20 ( cross-section) and
50x50 for plastic ( S Grun/ Teflon)

11) Do you need to do hardening for Mylar? Which hardening process?

Ans: To avoid wear of mylar. If not hardened size will get reduced over the period due to
continuous use and which will result in accuracy or assy. Welded

Hardness
40-50HRC

12) What is a 4 way or 2-way location?

4-way mean you prevent movement at 2 axis (+X, -X, +Y and -Y) on the
plane. Generally you have cylindrical pin on the fixture and circular hole at
workpiece part.
2-way mean you prevent movement only at 1 axis on the plane. And
generally you have cylindrical pin on the fixture and slot hole at workpiece part
13) What is the difference between the round pin or a diamond pin?

When a Round Pin and Diamond Pin are used together, the Round Pin is
the primary, 2-axis locator, while the Diamond Pin is the secondary, 1-axis
locator. Diamond Pins are relieved to locate only radially around the Round
Pin, avoiding redundant location.
14) What will be tolerance on location pin?

For GEO station -0.15mm

For re-spot statuon -028mm

16) What is the thickness of the shims used below mylars?

5mm
Shim Pack - Generally for the Mylar and Locating pin adjustment solid shim pack is used. 5
mm thk shim pack has various option of 0.5mm x2, 1mmx2, 2mmx1 makes shim pack.
Shim is of 2 slot/ hole, 3 slot/hole or 4 slot/hole

17) Why Rough locators are used in BIW fixture?

Rough locators are elements that aid the operator to guide the car panels
while loading onto the fixture and ensure a fool-proof assembly.
18) What is the purpose of a rough locator?

rough locators are used to help locate workpieces in the automation

process. Locating refers to the desired location where you want the workpiece
to be when it is getting worked on either by a person, team, or robot.
19) What should be location pin size if I have A class panel hole of dia 10 and hole tol. is
0.1?

Hole size=10+0.1=10.1 then pin size is 10.1-0.15=9.95

Hole size=10-0.1=99 then pin size is 9.9-0.15=9.75

20) Which screws are better Allen screw or hexagon head?

Why are Allen bolts used instead of hexagonal bolts in some cases? The
primary advantage of Allen bolts over hex bolts is that the tool used to do
them up can be smaller than the head itself. So they are perfect for if you
have a bolt that's down inside a narrow opening.
21) How much should be the depth of thread if I use M8 tapping to mount mylar on the
riser?

For M8 bolt=Dia of bolt*1.5=8*1.5=12mm thread depth.

22) What is J riser? What is mfg .process? What is its thickness?

23) What will be min . height for location pin-straight portion for the panel location?

Min 4 to 5 mm engagement
 24) What will be hardness for the location pin? What will be the hardening process?

Material used for various BIW welding fixture items

Sr. No BIW welding fixture item Material Hardness Remark

C45 40-50HRC
1 Clamp Block/Mylar
SAE4140 NAAMS std

UHMW

Nylon66
2 Skin Panel Clamp Block/Mylar
PP

Teflon (polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE). 50-60 Shore D

16MnCr5 45-55HRC Case Hardened

3 Locating Pin 20MnCr5 45-55HRC Case Hardened

SAE 8620 58-62HRC GM Standard

4 Stopper Block C45

SAE1060 Flame Hardness :55-60 HRC NAAMS std

Cover Plates Circa

HRCA
5
MS

SAE 8620

6 Dump unit shaft SAE1020 NAAMS std

Weld part- Different

7 St 37-2 DIN Standards
plateswelded together

St 52-3 DIN Standards

Mild Steel

8 Rough Locator St37-2

St37-2K K- stands for

25) What is a clamping scheme?

26) What is the Spot Welding process?

spot welding (or resistance spot welding) is a type of electric resistance

welding used to weld various sheet metal products, through a process in
which contacting metal surface points are joined by the heat obtained
from resistance to electric current.
27) What is MIG?

Metal Inert Gas Welding

28) What is the nugget diameter?

29) What should be the distance between two spots?
30) What should be min? flange width for welding of 2 panels?
31) How many panels can be spot welded together 2,3 or 4 panels at a time?
32) What should be the thickness ratio for welding 2 or 3 panels?
33) Can we weld 0.5 mm thick with 2mm?
34) What is cycle time?
35) What is takt time?
36) How much time it takes to weld one spot?
37) What is the weld sequence?
38) How much current needed to do spot weld?
39) What is C or X or Y gun?
40) What is IT or Non-IT Gun?
41) What is the diameter of the welding electrode?
42) How weld strength is checked? What are the different tests?
44) What is the general diameter of the electrode?
45) What is the material of the electrode?
46) After how many spots electrode has to be changed?
47) What is tip dressing?
48) How many times I can use the main PLP location hole?
49) Why I need a flanged hole?
50) What is the panel inspection fixture? Why it is necessary?
51) Do you have any idea about the welding inspection fixture?
52) What is the working height of the manual welding fixture?
55) What is a proximity sensor? Why it is used?
56) What is NAAMS Standard?
57) What will be tolerance on mylar block if it fitted on Riser? Clear, tight or interference fit
58) Why water is used in spot welding gun?
59) Can we do aluminum panel welding?
60) What is roller hemming? Where it is used?
61) How hemming is done?
62) What should be the height of the panel for roller hemming?
63) How many steps followed for roller hemming?
64) How much height we should have at the corner of the door?
65) Why sealant used in BIW?
66) What is the difference between the coated sheet and non coated sheet?
67) Which panel needed max current coated or non coated?
68) What is puddle welding?
69) What is MIG welding? Is it used in car BIW?
70) How Mylars are checked?
71) What is the purpose of CMM machine in BIW?
72) What is FARO?
73) What is the accuracy of FARO Arm?
74) What is the general speed of roller hemming robot ( in terms of mm/min)
75) What is toggle clamp?
76) Why toggle clamp used in the BIW welding fixture?
77) Why toggle clamp pivot point and PLP should be in one line?
78) What is gripper?
77) Why grippers are used?
79) Can I mount weld gun and gripper on the same robot?
80) What are light curtains?
81) What is gantry?
82) What is the lift and carry mechanism?
83) What is the shuttle system?
84) What is the framing station?
85) What is Geo Station?
86) What is respot station?
87) What is the chisel test?
88) What is S-Grun material?
89) What is Teflon material?
90) Why stress relieving has to be done after welding?
91) Why dowel holes are made on base plates?
92) What is blackodising ? Why it is done?
93) Do you apply pressure on a panel during toggle clamping?
94) Why BIW tools are designed for Left-Hand side only? For Chassis component
95) What are carlines?
96) Where is car origin? X=0,Y=0,Z=0
97) Why one round hole and one slot strategy followed for deciding PLP of the panel?
98) Is it possible to use Hole -Hole strategy? Who is using it now?
99) Can we weld aluminum with steel?
100) What is water jet cutting? Is it used in BIW fixturing?
101) What is gas cutting? Can I cut St 52-3 mat. 200thk by gas cutting?
102) Have you used laser cutting for a 10mm thk plate?