Manufacturing Processes for Composite Tooling and Composite Trimming

Advanced composite materials are replacing more and more metal components in a variety of industries, most notably, the aerospace industry. While there are many benefits to using composite materials, there are also inherent challenges when working with composite materials. Composite structures are often formed into complex organic shapes, and they're subject to tighter tolerancing and accuracy requirements than is a similar component made from plastic or another material. This creates the need for highly accurate, often complex mold tools and patterns to be machined. PowerMill software and PowerShape software are uniquely suited for rapidly producing high-quality composite tooling, as we'll demonstrate in this course. Another significant manufacturing challenge is machining the completed composite piece. Companies often employ the use of highly complex and expensive fixtures in attempts to accurately align and set up the part for machining while minimizing the time they have in non-productive, manual setup processes. This course will demonstrate how PowerInspect software can make possible the use of simple, inexpensive work holding while increasing accuracy and repeatability of the part setup. This tool can also be used to verify the machining operations before the part is moved from the machine, making any required rework much faster and simpler, and significantly reducing the common bottleneck at the quality department.