1. 2016 Maintenance Innovation Challenge
76 CMXG Reverse Engineering And Critical Tooling
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Sustainment of aging aircraft presents unique challenges due to the lack of complete technical data, aging legacy tooling, and the need to rapidly respond to unanticipated repairs to a wide variety of aircraft and exchangeable end items.
BENEFITS
Rapidly prototype parts for fit checks and iterate design changes very quickly
Reduces material waste and machining time
Print low production run tooling for sheet metal forming, welding, and drilling on demand
Reduces tool cost, lead time and storage footprint
Create novel light weight and ergonomic solutions when standard fixtures or tooling doesn’t exist
Improves employee safety and satisfaction
TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION
Laser scanning and measurement to meet the needs of depot maintenance operations
Compare items to technical data
Create a model from a sample part
Additive manufacturing to rapidly prototype solutions
Custom repairs
Innovative tooling
Validate/enhance technical data
Printed tube tack weld fixture made from Ultem (Below)
GRAPHIC
Printed modified form block made from Ultem (Above)