HONING & DEEP HOLE DRILLING
Ace in the hole
Solutions Report Dave Tudor
G
When it comes to deep hole drilling expertise, few companies have the pedigree earned by Coleshill, Birmingham- based TBT. Established in 1984, the company’s original brief was to sell the deep hole drilling machines manufactured by parent company TBT Tiefbohrtechnik GmbH, but today the company has evolved into an all- encompassing deep hole drilling specialist.
enerally speaking, there are relatively few deep hole drilling companies around – and when you visit an organisation such as TBT, it’s not difficult to see why. In terms of the machinery used – everything is large scale and expensive, and from a knowledge-based perspective, propelling drills to depths of 4m and beyond is a prospect that would make even the most battle hardened engineer nervous! But this is exactly the kind of work that TBT embraces and effectively there are four distinct sections of the business – machine tools, sales, subcontract work, tooling and a re-tipping/regrinding service – that complement each other perfectly. The move into the subcontracting world shortly after the company began was an evolutionary one as Mark Ramsay, managing director of TBT UK elaborates: “Often customers would come and see the machines but then report that their order
quantities couldn’t justify the expense of a purchase. With machine pricing starting at around £150,000 this is quite understandable so we made the decision to set-up a subcontracting facility so we could undertake this type of work. It was definitely the right decision as today it represents over 80% of our total business.”
Keep it simple
TBT’s well-equipped machine shop occupies 26,000ft² of real estate and is home to a number of specialist deep hole drilling machines. Off centre block type work can be accommodated as well as conventional bar work in a wide range of materials from aluminium alloys through to Inconel, composites and Hastelloy. Mr Ramsay believes that with a handling capacity of some 25 tonnes on the shopfloor, there’s little in the way of competition in the UK in terms
Far and wide Based in St Albans,
Hertfordshire, Premier is one of the UK’s largest providers of specialist deep hole drilling, gundrilling and honing services.
As a tier two supplier to the aerospace industry, the company has been selected to machine and supply critical actuator components for the new Airbus A350 XWB programme.
Precision honing engineers Delicate parts handled down to 3.00mm Ø Heavy parts up to 750mm Ø and 15m long Experts in blind end and thin wall components Same day service available Specialist in stainless and high nickel alloys New and used honing machines supplied
Alpha Works • Alstone Lane • Cheltenham • GL51 8ES Tel: +44 (0)1242 525868 Fax: +44 (0)1242 224738
sales@apperleyhoning.co.uk www.apperleyhoning.co.uk
24 August 2010 • Production Engineering Solutions
Airbus has received firm orders for nearly 500 of its new A350 XWB (Xtra Wide Body) aircraft, a long range, mid-size, wide body family of airliners currently under development. The A350 XWB will be the first Airbus with both fuselage and wing structures made primarily of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP), and it is designed to compete with the Boeing 777 and the Boeing 787. Airbus claims that it will be more fuel efficient, with up to 8% lower operating costs than the Boeing 787.
Premier Deep Hole Drilling has been selected to supply tightly toleranced actuation components which will feature in the ‘2H2E’ (two hydraulic and
two electric) architecture, developed to control the A380 but used even more extensively on the A350 XWB.
Scheduled to enter service in 2013 the A350 XWB will be made from 53% composites, 19% Al/Al-Li, 14% titanium, 6% steel and 8% miscellaneous. The composite frames will feature aluminium strips to ensure the electrical conductivity of the fuselage for dissipating lightning strikes.
The A350 will feature new all composite wings that will be common to all three proposed variants of the aircraft – the 270 passenger A350-800, the 314 passenger A350-900 and the 350 passenger A350-1000. With a wingspan of 64m and an area of 443m² it will be the largest wing ever produced for a single- deck wide body aircraft. Airbus is planning a £570 million (US$760 million) investment to upgrade composite capability at its Broughton site in the UK, in preparation for its role as final assembly location for the A350 XWB wing. In June 2009, the Welsh Assembly announced provision of a £28 million grant
to provide a training centre, create production jobs and funding towards the new production centre.
A new trailing edge high lift system has been adopted with an advanced dropped hinge flap (similar to that of the A380), which permits the gap between the trailing edge and the flap to be closed with the spoiler. Extensive use of computational fluid dynamics has been carried out with more than 4,000 hours of low and high speed wind tunnel testing to refine the aerodynamic design. Primary Flight Control
Actuation on the A350 XWB will feature the ‘2H2E’ architecture developed for the A380. Discrete actuators and associated control electronics for this programme include a mix of EHA (electro- hydrostatic actuators) and EBHA (electrical back-up hydraulic actuators) to control the aileron, elevator, rudder and spoiler flight surfaces. “To maximise the benefits achieved by constructing the superstructure from advanced composite materials the movement of the flight control surfaces also had to be
of component size. An important point to make is that TBT as a subcontractor uses
TBT Tiefbohrtechnik machines exclusively so it is well-placed to realise the full capability of the machines it sells, but although the equipment is capable of highly complex operations, Mr Ramsay is keen to emphasise that the machines are relatively simple to use. “The skill is in the set-up,” he explains. “Deep hole drilling traditionally is a very labour intensive process but we design our machines to be stable and precise in operation so that once they’re set-up, they can run for long periods with minimal intervention. “The set-up still requires specialist knowledge regarding coolant pressures, feeds and speeds and tool life, but we integrate a high degree of process monitoring equipment into our machines so they can run for long periods reliably. In fact it’s not unusual for us to
evaluated for this new airliner,” explains Premier’s managing director, Stuart Grant. “With more electric actuation technology than any previous aircraft the motion and control techniques employed have placed a number of demands and challenges upon the engineering supply chain. “For example, ever increasing component quality requirements result in much tighter
manufacturing tolerances,” he continues. “These new parts only have an allowance of a few microns on both straightness and concentricity over the length of the components which are more than 1m long. To achieve this requires increased control on raw material specifications, correct machining feeds and speeds, reliable heat treatment services and bespoke fixturing at the relevant manufacturing stages. However, this all leads to a much simplified and cost- effective final machining process.”
Certified to ISO 9001, accredited to AS9100 and signatories of the SC21 supply chain initiative, Premier has 35 knowledgeable staff that thrive on such challenges, and work in conjunction with customers’ development teams to provide timely solutions as well as robust and reliable manufacturing systems. “We constantly invest in manufacturing and machine tool technology to ensure we provide our customers with the services they are searching for,” Mr Grant concludes.
>PREMIER
www.premier-drilling.co.uk
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