Patent ID: 8919409

Claim:
A fiber placement machine having a dockable fiber placement head that is supplied with fiber tow from a creel, the machine comprising: a K-axis housing and a fiber placement head; a cut, clamp, and restart (CCR) mechanism and a compaction device mounted on the fiber placement head, the CCR mechanism containing restart rollers; a creel for supplying fiber tow to the fiber placement head; an arm and a wrist coupled to the creel; the K-axis housing supported on the wrist and receiving fiber tow from the creel through the arm and the wrist; an A-axis redirect roller mounted on the back of the K-axis housing; K-axis redirect rollers and CCR redirect rollers mounted on the front of the K-axis housing; and, a separable coupling connecting the fiber placement head to the K-axis housing, whereby the fiber placement head and the CCR mechanism may be disconnected from the K-axis housing for docking purposes leaving the A-axis redirect roller, the K-axis redirect rollers, and the CCR redirect rollers with the K-axis housing and coupled to the wrist and the creel.