Critical aerospace components require first-class surface treatment. From engines, fuselage, wings, and landing gear to seats, gears, propellers, blades, fasteners and tanks for fuel, water, and waste, Rosler has industry experience and expertise.
While mass finishing and shot blasting methods are equally useful to manufacturers of new components and in the overhaul and repair of existing components, shot peening – a particular type of shot blasting – is especially advantageous for aerospace work pieces thanks to its ability to provide surface finishing and create internal compressive stress for improved component life.
Shot Blasting Capabilities
Rosler’s shot blasting technology meets the strict surface finishing requirements predicated by tight tolerances for safety and longevity. This impact-based process propels small metal or mineral pellets onto a work surface at speeds of 200-800 feet per second.
Desired finishes including cleaning, texturing, removal of or preparation for coating, and peening can be pinpointed to specific areas of a given work piece as well as the entirety of large, structural components.
The aerospace industry demands high repeatability and adherence to strict production tolerances. As we discovered in Aerospace, Part 1, Rosler Metal Finishing’s surface finishing technology delivers the precision needed for aerospace components both large and small.
For complicated gear components, we turn to our drag finishing systems for exact results every time.
Small to medium size structural aircraft parts
Characterized by its sturdy design and numerous technical features, Rosler Metal Finishing’s drag finishing systems are ideal for high value and sensitive parts such as aerospace components that cannot touch each other during the finishing process.
Equipped with a rotary carousel featuring 2 to 12 spindles to mount the parts, work pieces are “dragged” through the media mass. The rotation of both the carousel and the spindles guarantee an even treatment of the parts. Drag finishing offers a metal removal rate that is up to 40 times higher than conventional vibratory finishing.
To this day, the surface of large structural
aircraft components is frequently finished by hand. This process is not only
costly, but extremely inefficient and hard to replicate with absolute
conformity.
Airplane Landing Gear
Rosler Metal Finishing is changing the notion that suitable mechanical finishing equipment is not available for large, structural aerospace components by offering mass finishing technology capable of solving this problem and providing fully automatic finishing of work pieces up to 30 feet long.
We kick off our Aerospace Series with an overview
of the cost-effective and mechanical finishing options Rosler offers for the
Aerospace industry.
Vibratory Tubs Offer a
Solution
Thanks to the development of large, powerful vibratory tubs manual deburring and grinding of large aircraft components can now be eliminated. The development of perfectly controlled mechanical finishing systems offers finishing solutions for applications where the biggest rotary vibrator, because of the size of the parts, might still be too small.
Vibratory tub finishing is a great alternative to manual surface finishing for the aerospace industry.
From engine components and wings to landing gear, properly designed vibratory tubs can accommodate unwieldy work pieces, reduce production times and back logs, and produce a more consistent finish than manual finishing processes.
Our last blog post provided an overview of vibratory finishing’s role in the aerospace industry.
We now turn to specific applications and machine reports to demonstrate Rosler Metal Finishing’s vibratory finishing offerings and capabilities.
What We Offer
Vibratory tub finishing machines from Rosler can be customized to meet your unique aerospace finishing challenges.
Our most useful features include:
Unload gates with external screening units.
Automatic media return.
Integrated rinse stations for finished work pieces.
Gantry systems for easy material handling of heavy, bulky parts.
Ergonomic equipment designs.
All Rosler tub vibrators are equipped with special vibration dampers to prevent the transfer of vibrations to the immediate environment. In order to keep the noise level below 80 dB(A), the machines are placed in special noise
protection cabins.
The aerospace industry demands precision and high quality. The processes used to finish aerospace work pieces should adhere to the same rigorous demands.
Gone are the days when the surface of large structural aircraft components is frequently finished by hand. Thanks to the development of large, powerful vibratory tubs, costly manual deburring and grinding of large aircraft components can now be eliminated by highly controlled mass l finishing systems.
Finding A Better Way
Manual deburring and grinding are tedious and costly. Attempting these types of mass finishing by hand usually causes large quality fluctuations with relatively high scrap rates. Above all, manual processes demand highly skilled labor, which is especially hard to find in today’s economy and tight labor markets.
The lack of skilled labor and manual inefficiencies can lead to severe bottle necks in production and long lead times.
DL rotary vibrators allow for safe and efficient finishing of the internal channels in complex work pieces
One of the most technically challenging aspects of mass finishing is the ability to effectively treat the internal channels of precision components. This is especially true in industries which face very stringent requirements, such as; automotive, aerospace, tooling and medical. It is essential for these manufacturers to achieve precise finishing results.
Fully automatic operation produces precise and consistent results
A new specialised line of rotary vibrators that do not have an inner dome, which allows for automatic, precise surface grinding, smoothing and high gloss polishing of such specialised components. New DL vibrators allow for fully automatic and reliable treatment of such inner contours, resulting in excellent finishing results, achieved in either wet or dry operational mode. Even with extremely delicate and complex contours the dimensional integrity of the work pieces is fully maintained. Depending on the components, their original surface readings and the selected finishing process, Rz values of as low as 0.1 µm can be achieved.
In this type of machine, one or multiple work pieces may be attached to specially designed fixtures. The complete unit with the attached work piece(s) is then firmly mounted into the DL vibratory finishing system. For certain applications the loading and unloading operation can take place with a pneumatic lifting device, this eliminates the need for entirely removing the media from the work bowl when unloading the fixture with mounted part(s).
The vibratory energy is provided by two high-performance vibratory motors, placed on the outer wall of the work bowl, which is transferred to the work pieces that are mounted to the bottom of the work bowl. The intense vibration causes the processing media to flow through and around contours, internal passages or undercuts in the work pieces, without getting stuck.
Compared to standard vibratory systems, this sophisticated machine design combined with powerful vibratory motors (3,000 RPM) produces a 30% increase in processing intensity, resulting in comparably short cycle times. Adjustment of the imbalance weights and control of the motor speed, with frequency inverters, provides the ability to adapt the processing intensity to match the work pieces and the desired finishing task.
Equipment suitable for a multitude of finishing tasks
DL rotary vibrators are the perfect solution for finishing complex work pieces, such as; housings, pump or fan wheels, blisks, dies and moulds, tools, automotive wheels and a variety of other work pieces. Ensure you have sample processing trials carried out on your components so that you receive a tailor-made finishing solution, with the highest finishing quality, short cycle times and high cost efficiency.
All DL vibratory finishing systems are equipped with an easy to use control panel, which includes process timers. For wet finishing operations, compound and water are fed into the machine with a precise dosing system.
Any time two metal parts come into contact with each other the resulting friction causes heat build up. These high temperatures cause wear and over time reduce efficiency and eventually create the need for replacement. By creating a smooth and shiny finish the process improves the life and efficiency of moving metal parts. Increased life translates into lower operating costs as well as better performance.
Blast cleaningwith a suitably soft media, cleans fast and is environmentally friendly. It provides a quick reconditioning, reclamation and renewal of dirty, corroded, worn machined components. And is of vital importance to mechanical engineers, in the process of maintenance, component re-claim, rebuilders and re-manufacturers.
“When making a decision between various finishes for your product, seeing the actual finish on the metal is a valuable aid to your decision making and seeing a process in action is even better!”
In recent years, “drag finishing” has become a popular alternative for surface finishing of high value and somewhat delicate metal components.
“Drag finishing” is pulling the components through the media mass thus, honing and polishing in the process.
In a drag finishing system, the parts or components are mounted, fixed and equipped with multiple workstations. Each component is then “dragged” through a circular work bowl filled with grinding or polishing media.
Surf-Finisher – a new standard for automated precision surface finishing
Surf Finishing is a new surface finishing technology that can be incorporated in an automated system combining; loading, handling, processing and even inspection all in one which can give an added benefit of retaining traceability on parts.