Product category:
Machining centres - all types
News Release from: NCMT | Subject: Milling and grinding of aerospace components
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 25 May 2004
Latest aerospace machining developments
shown
Milling of aircraft structural parts and grinding of engine components using the Viper process developed by Rolls-Royce will be demonstrated at the UK's Farnborough International Airshow.
The NCMT stand at the Farnborough International Airshow this year will feature two distinct areas of manufacture - milling of aircraft structural parts, and grinding of engine components using the Viper process developed by Rolls-Royce The manufacturer of the machining centres used in both these applications is Makino, Japan, for which NCMT is the sole UK agent
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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An Airbus A380 wing rib measuring 4 metres by 2 metres, milled to close tolerance at Filton on Makino MAG4 horizontal, five-axis machining centres, will be available for inspection.
On display also will be a rib for the A320.
They are representative of the wide range of aluminium structurals for aircraft being machined worldwide on high-speed Makino machines, which are renowned as among the most flexible and cost effective for production in the aerospace industry.
The rationale is that the machines can produce one large, complex component to very high accuracy in a single set-up, eliminating the need to make two or more sub-assemblies and so dramatically reducing manufacturing lead time and cost.
For producing engine parts, Viper (vitreous improved performance extreme removal) grinding is a major advance in production technology, capable of stock removal rates up to eight times those achievable when conventionally grinding nickel alloys using a plated CBN wheel.
Consumable costs are also reduced significantly.
Makino has adapted its machines to include double skins to protect the operator from wheels rotating at high speeds and 100 bar coolant pressure.
It has also modified the slideway covers to prevent ingress of swarf and coolant, which would otherwise quickly damage the machine.
Component examples on the NCMT stand will be turbine discs and blades whose fir tree root forms have been Viper ground.
The discs will highlight a change in production method as their root forms are normally broached.
There will also be precision-faced couplings for industrial power generation and machine tool applications; while medical implants that have been similarly produced will illustrate the wide-ranging flexibility of the Viper process. Request a free brochure from NCMT ...
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