Tight tolerances and a commitment to quality are essential for many types of manufacturing, but they are always more crucial when manufacturing aerospace components. Companies in this market know that a few microns can make a world of difference, even when working on large parts that span 40-50 ft and longer.
To meet these exacting demands and stay current with their cutting-edge customers, aerospace component manufacturers require high performance technology. The industry continues to pursue more forward-thinking design solutions, from electronic schematics to futuristic materials. But how can manufacturers make their necessary machine upgrades affordable?
Tri Aerospace, LLC (Terre Haute, IN), is a turbine engine component manufacturer that found a rebuild and retrofit would improve its machining capabilities, optimize their operations and keep costs under control. Using Konecranes Machine Tool Service (MTS) and FANUC control technology, Tri Aerospace produced a 5-axis capable machine that will allow it to turn around more complex designs in less time while continuing to pursue the prototype work it is known for.
Part of the M2M Group of companies, Tri Aerospace specializes in the CNC machining of aerospace components and provides concurrent engineering, project management and prototype builds for gas turbine engine R&D programs. "Most people in our industry prefer to run high-volume production, but we are really geared towards the prototype, one piece part trial pieces," explained Laurence Cross, General Manager at Tri Aerospace, LLC. "We like to dive into the engineering process and get really involved. How can we make this part easier to manufacture? How would this new part optimize or enhance a functioning jet engine? Those are the type of questions we live to answer."
In today's industry, more and more of the most cutting-edge prototypes are being designed electronically. Rather than receiving a 2D drawing which was drawn and created in real space, manufacturers are now dealing in electronic designs which feature surfaces that are only defined electronically. With its commitment to prototyping, Tri Aerospace wanted to be able to continue to work with this promising new format. However, one of its machines simply could not process these electronic designs.
"Tri Aerospace is a quality-conscious, engineering-heavy company," said Cross. "These innovative, electronically designed parts are exactly the sort of work that excites us. So we knew that we wanted to improve our machine's capabilities on that front, and we also wanted to add 5-axis capability. We had always done work in the 5-axis arena, but we had done it in the three-plus-two mode. To be able to expand our business, we needed to go into the true five-axis machining mode."
However, acquiring a brand new 5-axis machine, especially in this size range, is rather expensive. Purchasing an older machine would be cheaper, and they offer excellent dampening characteristics that newer models generally cannot match. So, Cross bought a used Cincinnati Milacron machine that required an engineered solution as part of the rebuild and CNC retrofit process.
In his search for a retrofit and rebuild partner, Cross kept hearing his colleagues mention Konecranes MTS. "When you start looking at combining synergies for this rebuild and retrofit, Konecranes has the ideal skill set. We have more than 40 years of experience rebuilding, re-engineering and retrofitting all makes and models of Cincinnati Milacron machines," said Harold Schoch, Director of Sales, Region Americas at Konecranes MTS. "We also have the good fortune of having had so many former Cincinnati Milacron employees on our team over the years. In addition, we are one of the largest volume retrofitters of FANUC CNC systems in the region."
Cross was impressed with the expertise of the team from Konecranes Machine Tool Service from the get-go, as they offered an understanding not only of the Cincinnati Milacron machine, but also of the unique challenges in Tri Aerospace's industry and applications. "I have worked with aerospace manufacturers for many years, and it was very prudent of Tri Aerospace to choose an older machine," Schoch explained. "Dampening characteristics are an asset to any machine tool job, but the aerospace industry machines extremely difficult materials, including titanium, Waspaloy, Inconel, etc. - where the machining processes can present a real challenge. The surface finish cannot suffer from any chatter or roughness, and with these seasoned, robust cast-iron machines, you know that will not be an issue."
"Volumetric compensation of the machine tool is also incredibly important," he continued. "You want to know how accurate the machine is capable of performing in the entire work envelope. Most new machine builders and rebuilders will only guarantee a small work envelope of around a 12-inch square cube. With aerospace, you are talking more like 20-30 feet and beyond that you have to hold to very close tolerances."
In addition, Tri Aerospace also wanted the most cutting-edge control capabilities, so Konecranes MTS' longtime relationship with FANUC really added to its appeal. The company's controls are widely used throughout the aerospace industry, which is challenged by some of the most complex and difficult machining applications.
Exotic, hard-to-machine materials such as titanium, composites and composite-metal sandwich material are compounded by complex curved surfaces that can only be realized with 5-axis machining. The primary goal is to produce high-quality, precision parts with a superior surface finish, yet performance is also very important. Faster cycle times also equate to a lower cost per part and increased machining capacity to avoid adding equipment and increasing overhead.
FANUC's aerospace program manager, Rick Schultz, explains that manufacturers need a high level of support for these complex aerospace applications. "FANUC's aerospace vertical market team is made up of aerospace experts with a high level of industry experience," said Schultz.
Schultz explains that FANUC's dedicated market teams focus on helping people in the industry become more efficient and use the product better. "Tri Aerospace not only gets increases in performance from the control retrofit but also has access to experienced personnel who sit with them as they use their new FANUC based equipment and become partners in their organization so they get the best from the equipment they invested in."
That level of support remains in effect for the lifetime of the machine. FANUC has a 25-year replacement part availability support commitment. "We consider our support to be an investment in the market," said Schultz. "If customers are using the controls properly, they will maximize their return on investment and be significantly more efficient than when they were using traditional programming techniques."
Robert Sorrell, FANUC's sales engineer for CNC and motion systems, explains FANUC's integration philosophy. "FANUC specializes in collaborating with our key technology partners to develop fully integrated factory solutions based on standard industry interfaces to maximize our customers' productivity, efficiency and profitability."
Konecranes MTS believed that the best FANUC solution for this 5-axis application was the Series 31i-A5 control. The control is designed to simplify complex, high-performance 5-axis machining applications and use advanced spline interpolation to faithfully recreate the original CAD drawing from the line segment approximations. The 5-axis CAD/CAM/machine workflow is simplified by creating part programs that describe part geometry and allowing machine, tooling and setup data to be provided at the machine.
According to Schultz, the Series 31i-A5 CNC was chosen because it provides the performance, accuracy, surface finish and reliability needed for critical aerospace applications. In particular, it features high speed smooth TCP (tool center point), an advanced algorithm that allows manufacturers to cut parts with a shorter cycle time, better surface finish and high accuracy.
"In addition, the Series 31i-A5 control is quite reliable, with a mean time between failures (MTBF) of 17 years. The high MTBF provides two important benefits; significantly reduced maintenance costs and much higher machine productivity. When the machine is down significant money is lost by aerospace part manufacturers. The reliability of the Series 31i-A5 control will really help Tri Aerospace be more efficient and keep production running without unplanned CNC system failures," said Schultz.
With the parameters set and the plan agreed upon, Konecranes MTS built the machine entirely. The company has experience with precise volumetric calibration, and as part of its turnkey solution, it assembled the rebuilt machine in its climate-controlled facility. Offsite rebuilding and retrofitting projects like this can help to minimize downtime in the shop and minimize customer exposure to debugging or exhaustive testing procedures.
As part of the process, Konecranes MTS powered the machine up in their facility, cycled through the debug process, and then ran it through a regimented 40-hour uninterrupted cycle time. Following these steps, they performed laser calibration and a ballbar test. After the 40 hour cycle and calibration, a test part was machined to confirm the machine's durability and accuracy. Afterwards, Tri Aerospace's team was invited to bring their own test parts and made sure that the machine passed their stringent criteria, before decommissioning and prepping it for shipment.
Aside from the final product, one of the chief advantages of the partnership was actually the build process itself. "The customers we work with are very detail-oriented," said Schoch. "They are quality-conscious and meticulous. And we understand that dedicated professionals like that want to be intimately involved in the rebuild process. They want to see what we are doing, and understand our thought processes."
"So to give them a sense of real transparency, Konecranes Machine Tool Service has installed high-resolution cameras in both of our U.S. facilities." He continued, "Our customers can log in via a VPN connection or tunnel, and they can actually see our specialist building their machine in real time. Rather than having to travel from across the country, they can watch from their own office. Certainly, opening up our facility this way represents a risk, since our customers really can see everything that goes on in the shop, but we believe in our employees and our rigid processes. We are an open book."
Cross has really appreciated this commitment to transparency. "The flow of communication back and forth has been really great," he said, "They have made me feel very welcome in their shop, at any time that I wanted to come over. Their shop is about three hours away, but I have been there at least once a month since this project started."
"Laurence Cross is an extremely detailed engineer," said Schoch. We spent about a year and a half, planning this project from A to Z, and from these conversations it was clear that Tri Aerospace is a world-class organization. Its processes are state-of-the-art. It is a very well-managed, very clean environment, just what you would expect from a company working with its caliber of OEM. You do not want to make a customer like that feel left out of the process; you want to incorporate their expertise, so we are very glad that we were able to keep them involved as closely as we have."
"Machine tool rebuilds and CNC retrofits, like the one Tri Aerospace undertook, can offer remarkable value for any machine shop. They allow for a 'best of both worlds' approach that saves costs while offering the most cutting-edge technology," said a company spokesperson.
"When you upgrade to a full 5-axis contouring machine, you could increase your productivity by as much as 40 percent, depending on the material involved," explained Schoch, "And if you use a retrofit to achieve this capability, you are saving between 30 and 35 percent, while utilizing older, seasoned cast-iron machines with great dampening characteristics. It is really a win-win situation."
For more information contact:
FANUC America Corporation
3900 West Hamlin Rd.
Rochester Hills, MI 48309-3253
888-FANUC-US (326-8287)
www.fanucamerica.com
Konecranes, Inc.
4401 Gateway Blvd.
Springfield, OH 45502
937-525-5533
www.konecranesusa.com
www.konecranesamericas.com