Airbus chooses Makino equipment for A380 wing rib

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Airbus chooses Makino equipment for A380 wing rib

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Aerospace Engineering October 2003 25
Tech focus
Airbus chooses Makino equipment for A380 wing rib
There’s a big change under way in
how aircraft are assembled, a fact
well understood by Airbus as it builds
the A380 with help from Makino.
“The trend to monolithic parts is
increasing,” said Chris Harland, the
A380 Wing Rib Project Manager at
Airbus in the United Kingdom. “We
must achieve economic run quantities
of a single piece. It is now about
process control due to high cost of
individual pieces. Large batches and
delays in inspection are a thing of the
past due to the high potential cost of
quality. It is no good to say, ‘we will
inspect it later.’”
To meet these stringent requirements
for the A380, Airbus Filton UK
has created an advanced wing ribmanufacturing
cell utilizing the
Makino MAG-Series equipment. The
A380 wing rib manufacturing team
set specific objectives when outlining
the scope of work for the new cell:
• Quality—low scrap rate, low concessions,
high process capability, and inprocess
verification.
• Cost—machine utilization greater than
90%, multi-machine staffing, reduced
inventory, and reduced floor space.
• Delivery—complete machined wing
rib, start to finish, in 1 to 2 days;
single-piece production runs.
The wing ribs are massive,
measuring as large as 3.1 x 2 m.
They are single-piece parts machined
from an individual billet of a new,
weight-saving, high-tensile-strength
aluminum alloy.
The project team decided to use a
single-spindle machine over a multispindle
gantry machine, which offered
the advantage of dramatically fewer
process variables to control. The
spindle would need to be three times
as efficient at removing metal as the
alternative. Greater spindle utilization
was also a must. The spindle was to
have only one set of tools, one fixture,
and a constant spindle interface.
Airbus already was using highspeed
horizontal machines for some of
its wing rib production. The company
determined that the horizontal machining
approach was the only way to
proceed when they would be making
this quantity of chips. “You cannot
afford for the parts to be lost under a
sea of chips,” said Harland.
Given this analysis, Airbus established
stringent specifications for an
automated wing rib machining cell,
and eventually chose Makino’s. The
company’s MAG4 equipment also
includes an automated pallet-handling
system. The company’s pallet-handling
system included an area for the
storage of six pallets and a 90° pallet
tilt station, enabling parts to be
loaded/unloaded on a horizontal
surface and tilted vertically to present
the parts to the horizontal spindles of
the MAG-Series machines.
Makino completed installation of its
European demonstration MAG4
machine at the Airbus facility by
March 2002. This enabled Airbus to
immediately start the part process
development activities on these new
parts while the MAG4 machines for
the system configuration were being
produced. By September 2002,
installation of the two production
MAG-Series machines and the
automatic pallet-handling system was
complete. Production began shortly
afterward.
According to Makino, Airbus is
achieving metal removal rates 2.6
times greater with the single-spindle
than can be achieved on multi-spindle
gantry machines. Makino believes the
machine will surpass three-times
capability, as specified.
The ribs are being produced in a
three-operation sequence on the
MAG4. The first operation requires
that the first side of the rib be roughmachined.
The rib is then flipped over
for the same process. After it is
relaxed, the piece is finish-machined
on the second side during the second
step. The rib is next flipped back over
to the first side and finish-machined.
The throughput time from start to
finish for machining a wing rib is one
to two days, depending on the
specific wing rib part being produced.
The wing ribs are being run in
single-piece production quantities,
For the A380, Airbus made significant changes to its plant in Filton, UK, developing
an advanced wing rib manufacturing cell using Makino equipment.
26 Aerospace Engineering October 2003
Tech focus
dramatically reducing inventory
levels. The raw material cost of each
rib exceeds 15,000 euros (approximately
$16,000).
Only minimal staffing increases
were required for the wing rib
production facility to support the
additional A380 machining requirements.
This is due to the multi-machine
staffing capability of the Makino
Machining Complex automatic palletmm
with a tolerance of –0.08 mm/
+0.25 mm. “We feel that the Makino
machines can allow us to reduce to
0.8 mm with proven process capability,”
he said.
The Airbus A380 super jumbo jet
is intended to achieve a 25% reduction
in cost per seat and a 15%
improvement in fuel efficiency.
Patrick Ponticel
handling system. Two operators are
capable of loading and unloading the
parts, with the Makino cell control
software managing the machine
scheduling, the indexing of the pallets
to the machine, and the loading/
unloading station.
Airbus is holding tolerances of
±0.095 mm on the extremities of its
parts, according to Harland. This is
done with pocket thicknesses of 1.1
Drilling, installation of fasteners leaned out at Boeing
A new drill/insert fastener end
effector developed by J.F. Hubert
Enterprises, Brown Aerospace, and
Boeing is a good example of lean
manufacturing, eliminating as it does
several steps between hole drilling
and fastener installing.
The device is being used in an
aircraft fuselage for drilling an
aluminum stack-up of aluminum/
aluminum and aluminum-titanium
bulkheads. Most hols are 3/16- or
1/4-in diameter with controlled-depth
countersinks.
Capability requirements of the end
effector include:
• Burr-free drilling.
• Wet drilling (faying surface seal
present between skin and substructure
while drilling).
• Countersink depth control on single bit
for one-up, one-pass (burrless) operation.
• Interference-fit fastener insertion of
a Hi-Lok fastener in the current
process. (Freedom to transition to a
Monogram OSI one-sided fastener is
designed-in with a rapid change-out
module.)
The technology eliminates more
than half the steps previously required,
including manual deburring,
and generates “huge savings,”
according to the companies.
Crimping tool from Tyco is lightweight affair
Tyco’s micropneumatic
crimping tool
with tool
holders and
crimp heads.
A micro-pneumatic crimping tool from
Tyco Electronics that measures 5.75 in
long and has a mass of 1.5 lb is 50%
smaller and 35% lighter than the
company’s widely used 6-26 pneumatic
hand tool (it is not designed as
a replacement for the 6-26), allowing
for use in more ergonomically
challenging operations. Its small size
and negligible weight are well suited
for intricate crimping processes found
in airframe wiring installation and
repair situations.
Hand-actuated, it operates on air
pressure of 90 psi. The power unit is
compatible with the small tool holder
and adapters used on the 6-26 unit.
When used with compatible crimping
heads, it will typically crimp terminals
and splices to 26-14 AWG wire. In
some cases, as with AMP
SOLISTRAND terminals, the acceptable
wire range is 22-10 AWG.
The tool can be outfitted with a
double-action crimp head, a T-HEAD
crimper, or a straight-action crimp
head. It is designed to crimp many
types of terminals, splices, and
contacts including PLASTI-GRIP butt
splices and terminals, PIDG terminals
and splices, SOLISTRAND uninsulated
terminals and splices, AMPLIMITE size
20 and DF contacts, as well as
circular plastic connector contacts and
MATE-N-LOK contacts.
Micro-pneumatic hand tools are
general-purpose tools designed for
intermediate production volumes that
require more speed than unpowered
hand tools, but do not demand the
capacity of a semi-automatic
bench press.
Patrick Ponticel
Aerospace Engineering October 2003 27
Tech focus
Here are the steps in the previous
process:
1. Apply doublers on top of the
bulkheads.
2. Apply skins over the doublers.
3. Drill 7000 holes through the
skin using an automated drillonly
machine.
4. Cleco every fourth hole in the skin.
5. Take out all 1750 clecos at
completion of drilling.
6. Separate the layers and
hand deburr the three sets of
skins and the doublers.
7. Manually deburr OML (outside
mold line) side of the three sets of
skins.
8. Manually deburr IML (inside
mold line) side of the three sets
of skins.
9. Manually deburr doublers on
both sides.
10. Prepare and seal the bulkheads
(the skins are not present).
11. Apply the doubler and seal again.
12. Apply skins back onto aircraft
substructure.
13. Hand-insert the Hi-Lok fasteners.
The new process, which requires
50% fewer crane moves, is as follows:
1. Prepare the bulkheads by
applying the faying surface seal.
2. Attach the doubler and apply
seal for the doubler.
3. Locate the aircraft skins onto the
substructure.
4. Drill and install fastener in oneup,
one-pass fashion.
With a reduction in setups and
adjustments, the new process involves
less manual interaction, less idling, and
fewer minor stoppages, the companies
say.
Patrick Ponticel
The Brown Aerospace DIFF end effector is shown with the cover open (left) and with
the cover closed.
Shown are the center barrel gantry automated fastening machine and C17 Globe
Master III bottom barrel inverted for the skinning process.
Quenching a thirst for better heat treating
IQ Technologies Inc.’s IntensiQuench
process for steel parts can best be
described as a water-quenching
method resulting in an optimized
level and depth of compressive
surface stressed with acceptable
part distortion in a throughhardened
part.
The process was “discovered” by
Nikolai Kobasko, Director of Technology
at IQ. He sought an alternative
heat-treatment method for hardening
steel parts through the use of pure
water quenchant or low-concentration
water/salt solutions. The generally
accepted cooling liquid had been oil,
making heat treating occasionally
hazardous and environmentally
unfriendly.
Prevailing wisdom has been that
only a slow quench could limit
distortion or cracking of metal parts,
and that water could not cool the metal
evenly enough to avoid distortion
28 Aerospace Engineering October 2003
Tech focus
to either the surface or deep within
the metal.
But what Kobasko found is that pure
water or a water/salt solution intensely
agitated (at a rate several hundred
times that used for conventional oil
quenching) kept distortion to a minimum,
provided that it was interrupted at
the point of maximum compressive
surface stresses. A team led by
Kobasko found that very fast and
uniform part cooling actually reduced
part cracking and distortion while
improving surface hardness, depth of
hardness, and durability of steel parts.
In addition, the process allowed for the
use of less alloy steel, resulting in parts
that can be made lighter but stronger
and more cost effective.
IQ has since developed computer
models for intensive quenching that
project the optimal time for interruption.
Patrick Ponticel
The first production furnace in the U.S. using the IntensiQuench process is owned
by Euclid Heat Treating Co.
Measurement time cut in half with new bore gage
The only family owned aircraft manufacturer
in the U.S., Schweizer Aircraft
Corp. is using an electronic bore gage
from Fowler/Bowers to make parts
inspection more efficient and reliable.
The maker of helicopters, agricultural
and reconnaissance aircraft, and
special-purpose unmanned vehicles,
Schweizer (also a subcontractor to
Boeing, Northrup-Grumman, Sikorsky,
and Lockheed-Martin) is giving closer
attention to upgrading its in-processing
inspection operations, particularly those
that can be performed directly on the
production floor by manufacturing
personnel.
“We need instruments that can help
us to continually produce parts of
known value,” said Jeff Waters,
Inspection Manager at the 400-person
company. The bore gage from Fowler/
Bowers has helped Schweizer halve the
time it takes to check tolerances of as
little as 0.0005 in for the many
precision-machined products it manufactures.
“The company formerly relied
on vernier-type inside micrometers for
this assessment program, but we found
inconsistent results,” Waters said.
“With the Fowler/Bowers Holematic
Mark II gage, all anyone using the
instrument has to do is insert the probe
into the bore, squeeze the trigger, and
get the reading quickly.”
The pistol-grip gage has a resolution
of 0.00005 in and a large, easy-toread
LCD swivel display as well as two
pre-set memories. Heads above 0.5-in
diameter are fitted with tungsten-carbide
measuring anvils. Special anvils are
used for threads, splines, and slots.
As part of its efforts to improve
inspection efficiency, Schweizer is
moving into use of coordinate measuring
machines and has upgraded its
tooling with the addition of highaccuracy
Sumitomo drills, according to
Rick Kent, Schweizer Production
Manager. He said the company
recently has added a portable articulating
arm to measure airframes.
Kent said gage calibration is carried
out at least every six months.
Patrick Ponticel
A Fowler/Bowers
pistol-grip bore
gage is used to
check a Schweizer
Aircraft Corp.
helicopter idler
pulley.

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Airbus chooses Makino equipment for A380 wing rib