Dockable cut clamp and restart mechanism for a fiber placement head

摘要

A fiber placement machine (10) has a fiber placement head (22) and a K-axis housing (24) that is supplied with fiber tow from a creel. The fiber placement head (22) is mounted on the front of the K-axis housing (24). The fiber placement head (22) has a compaction roller (27) and a cut, clamp, and restart mechanism (26) positioned adjacent to the compaction roller (27) that receives fiber tow from the K-axis housing (24). A separable coupling (44) connects the fiber placement head (22) to the K-axis housing (24), whereby the fiber placement head (22) may be disconnected from the K-axis housing (24) for docking purposes.