CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
August 2004
Company News
Delcam to Show Latest Machining and Inspection Techniques at Aero-Engine Expo
Delcam will demonstrate its latest techniques for machining and inspection of aerospace components at the Aero-Engine Expo to be held at London's Olympia Conference Centre on 29th and 30th September. In addition, CAM Development Director Steve Hobbs will present a paper on the company's most recent developments in its PowerMILL CAM system and PowerINSPECT inspection software at the conference that will run alongside the exhibition.
One of the main problems in the repair of aero-engines is that components such as turbine blades can be distorted during use so that they no longer match with their nominal CAD description. Once this has happened, machining data for any repair based on the original CAD data will not match the real-world part. To overcome this problem, Delcam offers an adaptive machining process that allows dedicated toolpaths to be produced for individual components or features.
The first stage of the process is to probe the component to determine the extent of its deviation from the nominal CAD data. Then, the morphing functionality in Delcam's PowerSHAPE hybrid modeler can be used to bring the CAD model into line with the actual geometry of the part. Once this adjustment has been made, toolpaths specific to that component can be generated for the areas being repaired with PowerMILL.
A similar approach can be used when repairing older parts or tooling for which no CAD data exists. For these components, it is often only necessary to machine the repaired areas into the surrounding surfaces with a smooth blend, rather than to create a precise region of known geometry.
Delcam's latest developments in On-Machine Verification will also be demonstrated. The most recent version of PowerINSPECT allows off-line programming of the inspection sequence on a machine tool, with fully integrated simulation and collision checking, and so minimizes the time needed for the verification operation.
The most obvious benefit of the new release will be to those companies that do not have existing inspection capabilities. Most modern machine tools either come with, or can be retrofitted with, probing capabilities to assist in the set-up of the job. With the new release of PowerINSPECT, this same equipment can now be used for verification at little extra cost.
On-machine verification offers timesavings by enabling the quality of the component being machined to be monitored at all stages in the manufacturing process. This will allow any errors to be detected earlier, and so corrected more quickly and at lower cost. For example, it will be possible to check that the correct amount of stock has been left on the component after a roughing operation, rather than having to wait until all machining operations have been completed before discovering that an error has been made.
Similarly, the extent of any damage caused, for example, by a tool breakage, can be assessed accurately and a decision made immediately to determine whether the part can still be completed within tolerance or whether it will have to be scrapped.
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