MACHINE CONTROLS
“Machinists are becoming a rare commodity in the industry and there’s often only a few true machinists in major facilities trying to support all pro- duction,” Nuqui added. “Due to the resulting incred- ible workload and the necessity to standardize on processes for certifi cation reasons, most machinists ask for the functionality they’re already familiar with rather than new capabilities. It is common practice in aerospace facilities to take the latest FANUC 30i-B control on a new machine and use it the same way CNCs were used in the ’80s and early ’90s.” FANUC is trying to help educate and ease the machinists and programmers transition into adopting the latest functionality and help facilities gain signifi cant benefi ts from new technologies that simplify postprocessors, Nuqui said. He added that speeding the time from art concept to part manufacture while reducing cycle time and improving part quality are also part of the goal. “This is one of the greatest challenges in aero-
A titanium jet engine blade is precision-machined using the latest Okuma Corp. OSP open-architecture machine controls.
space production—breaking the cycle of ‘doing what we’ve always done,’ and stepping into the modern and much more effi cient processes that modern CNCs can help enable.”
Cutting Aero Composites Another major trend in aerospace CNCs is the proliferation of the use of composites in airframe components, which are very diffi cult to cut without damaging the workpiece through de- lamination of the composites. “More and more our customers
are in need of advanced machin- ing technologies to handle complex carbon fiber-reinforced polymer [CFRP] materials,” said Art Gugulski, Midwest regional manager, Fagor Automation Corp. (Elk Grove Village, IL; Mondragón, Spain). “Those mate- rials are delivering high strength-to- weight ratio, durability, and extreme corrosion resistance to lightweighted structural components. The machines needed to handle those materials can be not as massive as for metalcut- ting, but on the other hand must be equipped with high-speed spindles, large machining envelopes and high measuring accuracy in three- and five-axis applications.”
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | February 2017
Image courtesy Okuma America Corp.
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