C919 Trailing Edge Assembly Interchangeable Tooling

Traditional Trailing Edge (TE) assembly that utilise fixtures for accurate positioning of aircraft (a/c) parts do not allow for removal of specific tooling from the fixtures to travel with the TE, post assembly. Instead, the tooling that positions all the primary a/c assembly datums generally utilise precision pins of various sizes that index and clamp the a/c ribs. Often it is difficult to remove the pins post assembly before the spar can be taken out of the fixture. Use of hammers is common place to hit pins out of holes which is less than ideal considering the a/c parts can be fragile and the tooling is precision set. Also, the Main Assembly Fixture (MAJ) that will receive the TE will inevitably need to relocate some if not all the primary a/c ribs and therefore will most likely be subject to some amount of persuasion. Electroimpact have for many years used cup cone locators that allows static tooling to be temporarily ‘loosened’ and therefore made more compliant for pin insertion/removal, this has been successful to reduce the need for hammering, but doesn’t remove the necessity for extensive manual work to reclaim all the datums. The intent of this paper is to highlight how we, on the C919 project, have successfully designed and implemented the use of removable tooling that travels with the TE sub-assemblies into the main TE assembly fixture and similarly the same interchangeable and removable tooling travels with the completed TE and re-engages with identical tooling receivers in the MAJ. Providing a fast, efficient, reduced man-power and accurate means for building a TE and transfer into the MAJ.