High-speed spindles for aircraft manufacturing

Aerospace companies such as Boeing and AHF-Ducommun have employed various high-speed spindles from Precise to improve machining accuracy and finish of aerospace components.

Small-diameter cutting tools are an integral part of machining many aircraft components. Precision contours, close tolerances, and fine details impose extreme requirements for accuracy, finish, and repeatability-all with a continued demand for greater productivity. Therefore, The Boeing Co. and AHF-Ducommun Inc. have begun fine tuning their CNC machine tools with high-speed electric spindles from The Precise Corp.

A high-speed spindle may be installed as the main spindle when a machine tool will be used primarily with smaller diameter cutting tools. If mounted as an auxiliary spindle, it can be used for roughing and other applications that require larger diameter tools, yet precision finishing operations can also be performed on the same machine without changing the setup. On CNC machining centers, if the auxiliary spindle is mounted to the side of the main spindle, it only becomes necessary to make programming allowances for the offset distance between the spindle and the main spindle, said Paul Frederickson, Application Engineering Supervisor of Precise.