Patent ID: 8408443

Claim:
A friction welding system, comprising: a carrier fixture positioned to carry a workpiece; a head support positioned proximate to the carrier fixture; a modular friction welding head releasably carried by the head support; a guide structure carried by at least one of the carrier fixture and the head support, wherein the modular friction welding head is movably coupled to the guide structure, the guide structure having a constrained motion path positioned to guide relative motion between the modular friction welding head and the carrier fixture, wherein the modular friction welding head includes: a spindle that is rotatable about a spindle axis; a probe projecting from the spindle along the spindle axis; a housing carrying the spindle; engagement features carried by the housing and positioned to releasably engage with the guide structure; a first actuator coupled to the spindle to rotate the spindle about a spindle axis; a second actuator coupled to the spindle to apply a force to the spindle generally along the spindle axis; and a third actuator coupled to the engagement features to move the engagement features relative to the motion path and move the modular friction welding head along the motion path; and a controller operatively coupled to the modular friction welding head and programmed with instructions to control operation of the friction welding head.