these parts, can’t recut, can’t fix. It just is or it isn’t in toler- ance. In this landscape, it’s easy to justify the cost of a more expensive, but more precise insert that’s far less liable to land an operator in hot water. Many boring tool manufacturers only offer metric scale
tools, which have a conversion (or have been converted on the outside). In reality, that tool is still adjusting to a metric pitch. Tis means conversion errors can accumulate quite rapidly. Other manufacturers, Kaiser included, have always
produced metric tools for the metric market, and inch tools for the inch market. Any of these inch-graduated tools are produced all the way through, from inception to finished product, to inch specs. For decades, forces in the United States have tried to move toward metric standards. But the aerospace legacy on producing and manufacturing com- ponents is so strict, and so difficult to change, that it has been a major force in keeping us on the inch system and our refusal to move away from it. Aerospace OEMs demand their components are made with tools and gages that the operators used based on inch calibrations. Tey don’t want tools that have been converted from metric, and are thereby “close enough.” And “close enough” might as well be a four-letter phrase in
aerospace. Some aerospace manufacturers won’t even allow a tier one or two supplier to upgrade or change a system due to obsolescence. For example, once a part has anchored itself in an aerospace component’s specs, process plan sheets, and it is officially dictated that the process is done with a specific part number, an operator will have to use that exact tool combina- tion for the life of the part. Last month, BIG Kaiser sold two boring heads which were
of a design that was relegated obsolete in 1998. It can be pain- ful, but a company had better be prepared to offer even obso- leted tooling for years to come. Otherwise, the component has to be recertified, validated, etc. and the cost of that is massive, even compared to resurrecting obsolete tools.
Repeatability and Adaptability Some aerospace components can be on a single ma-
chine for weeks at a time, so once an operator gets the tools cutting the size that it needs to be cutting, he will want to be able to hold and maintain that diameter and accuracy, literally, for months. Consider a transmission/gearbox project BIG Kaiser
worked on with an aerospace manufacturer a few years ago; operators set tools on the initial run, and ran for a year (18 months in the case of a few of the tools) without having to make an adjustment. They neither adjusted the diameter nor changed the insert, making up to 100 parts without changing anything about the tool. The confidence in that tool was close to 100%. Big aerospace OEMs want a tool to hold that for the lifespan of the machine, and of the
To avoid chatter and achieve an acceptable surface finish when creating a tapered shoulder between two holes, every component in the system must be up to the task.
workpiece. Anytime you introduce a variable, like an opera- tor adjusting things, that’s potential for an error, and then scrap. Manufacturers need tools to hold size absolutely the same for years; producing the same bore, meeting the same requirements. That’s not always realistic, and failures do happen. But confidence in repeatability is earned over time, and goes a long way. Aerospace manufacturers are oſten asked to machine in-
tricate workpieces, and it is not always possible to complete a bore with a standard boring tool. Sometimes, that manifests it- self as a hub at the bottom of a hole, like an OD hub. Consider producing a bore that goes all the way down, reaching over a hub with little space between it and the bore, working with a large radius, or trying to turn an OD, all the while having to fit over a large mounting bracket. It’s important to have a fairly adaptable system in these
cases, and to have a strong program of tooling as standard, or at least semistandard. Most boring companies do just fine at or below 3:1 length-to-diameter ratios, but Kaiser offers a standard range up to 10:1. And it goes without saying that standard is always preferred.
It Takes Time to Fly Becoming a player in aerospace manufacturing doesn’t
happen overnight. It takes decades to become a globally- known supplier, and that’s true of everyone involved; from OEMs, to tier one suppliers, to job shops, to the cutting tool manufacturers and machine tool builders that supply each step along the way. Even if you have the best products in the world, it takes years to learn and understand the unique way the aerospace industry operates. It’s always evolving, so to stay relevant, suppliers have to be constantly evolving with the times. For Kaiser, the recent digital boring heads are currently gaining momentum from aerospace manufacturers, because they eliminate an operator variable. And the more variables that can be removed, the more repeatable and precise the components will be—and in aerospace manufacturing, that’s really the Holy Grail. ✈
Aerospace & Defense Manufacturing 2014 125
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