Custom Machining Solutions for Large, Thin-Wall Aircraft Mounting Plate Parts

About Customer and Project

The customer is a manufacturer providing refurbishment and restoration services for business jets and private custom aircraft. They are able to provide a wide variety of aircraft parts, including rear shells, seats, divider privacy doors, trim parts, and so on. Recently, in order to optimize manufacturing capability, they need to find a professional manufacturer to work with them.

To ensure the product’s quality, the manufacturer must have the ability to respond quickly, develop a reasonable processing technology, and arrange production according to requirements. The customer found WayKen and hoped to check our processing capability through a machining project.

The first project we worked on together was very challenging. It is a metal mounting plate with large dimensions and thin wall thickness. WayKen responded quickly within a day. After analyzing the drawings and understanding the key features, we provided a custom machining solution that was highly appreciated by our customers. Let’s check out.

Analyzing the Parts’ Structure is a Key Step

Correctly analyzing the structure of the part and understanding the customer’s concerns are vital to making a suitable machining solution.

Large Dimension and Thin-wall Thickness

This is a mounting component of the aircraft cabin. The total weight of the plate parts must not exceed 800g, which is very demanding for weight. Therefore, in order to minimize the weight of this mounting plate, the engineer designed a large size for the part (dimension: 602*374*35mm) with a thin wall thickness (1.59mm only).

However, this total size is beyond the travel of ordinary machines. It is necessary to select a special CNC machine specialized in machining large-sized parts. At the same time, due to the large size of the plate part but the thin wall thickness, there is a high risk of deformation during machining.

In addition, this large-sized part with tough tolerance requirements is also a challenge. It requires manufacturers to facilitate with inspection instruments which can inspect the large dimensions part.

Tough Tolerances Required

Aircraft parts must be assembled accurately without any errors for safety considerations. Therefore, in this mounting plate, the tolerances of holes, position, and surface profile are tough.

For example, the surface profile tolerance requirement needs to be 0.05 with 3 different datums. However, since there are many structures in different directions of the plate part, multiple setups are required to complete the machining process. The more the number of setups, the more it will cause the machining errors. So, it is required to optimize the machining process to reduce the number of setups. In this way, the machining accuracy can be ensured.

Machining Solutions

After correctly analyzing the structure of the part, we figured out the main points that needed to be focused on during the development of the process, which included large dimensions, thin wall thicknesses, deformation, and the control accuracy of the part. Next, WayKen will develop the machining strategies around these key points.

Reduce Deformations Starting with Raw Materials

We purchased a block of 2024 aluminum stock with 685mm long, 460mm wide, and 38 mm high. It is necessary to do a heat treat for the stock first. Heat treatment can eliminate material stress to reduce the deformation. Then the stock will be smoothed again to further reduce the amount of deformation.

Choose the Right CNC Machines

If this part is machined with an ordinary 3-axis machine, 7 setups are needed when machining. Too many setups will reduce the machining precisions. Therefore, we need to choose suitable machines to produce this mounting plate part.

In addition, if the side structure of the part is machined by vertical clamping, it will be easy to sway which will affect accuracy. Considering these limitations, WayKen decided to use a 3-axis vertical machining center to machine the front and back sides. This tool is a 1270 model large machine specially designed for machining large-size parts. After the front and back sides are machined, we also need a horizontal machining center with a rotary table to machine all the structures and holes in the sides.

Main Processing Steps

As we can see, since the front and back sides (yellow and blue sides) have the thinnest wall thickness and the most structure, they are easier to deform. We should process the structures of these two sides first.

Then, we need to do heat treatment again for parts with roughing to reduce the deformation and strengthen the parts. Finally, these two sides will be machined by fine milling respectively to offset the machining stress with each other.

Finally, we started to machine the sides of the part. The sides of the parts will be machined by a horizontal machining center with a rotary table. They can be machined by one setup. In this way, all structures of the mounting plate parts can be machined.

Inspect the Key Features

These plate parts have lots of holes that require tolerances of position. It is difficult to inspect them by common methods. At WayKen, we used the CMM of ZEISS CAPTUM to check. The Zeiss CMM has a maximum measuring range of 700x1000x600mm and a maximum measuring error is only 2.1μm. It can inspect the machining accuracy of parts with large size accurately.

Choose WayKen as Your Reliable Manufacturer

Customizing the right machining solution is the first step in manufacturing a part with good quality. WayKen has an experienced engineering team to develop optimal machining solutions for precision parts with complex structures. We also offer one-stop machining services, including CNC machining, vacuum casting, sheet metal fabrication, surface treatments, etc. From prototyping to production, we are committed to providing full support for each product development stage.