Ecommerce aviation parts platform

AeroParts Now, an ecommerce solution for aviation part sellers, has launched a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform.

Customers can use the system to synchronize inventory with third-party marketplaces, streamline the quoting process, enhance customer communication, and enable direct-to-customer transactions through custom-branded web and mobile storefronts.

For example, the APN Inventory app allows customers to enroll parts and add product photos, inventory tags, and other certification documentation to parts in the system and a connected enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. It also lets part sellers without an ERP system organize and list parts on storefronts or third-party marketplaces.

AeroParts Now’s SaaS model offers parts sellers greater flexibility and lower overall costs. Customers can add new services as needed or add custom features with AeroParts Now professional services.

AeroParts Now President Will Dent says, “Our platform features will help propel the industry forward by modernizing the way suppliers sell and buyers purchase aircraft parts.”

iBASEt launches MRO software

iBASEt MRO software enables better visibility, speed, and reliability for maintenance and repair of highly engineered products consisting of multiple assemblies with high value and long life cycles.

The software serves original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as well as aerospace and defense maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) providers who must support strict compliance requirements. It provides managers better control and consistency for MRO execution through detailed planning and tracking of parts, labor hours, and required resources.

iBASEt MRO offers operators a complete product history of critical materials and resources for MRO work plans, along with traceability of important sustainment operations such as equipment data, serial numbers, and inspection results, including vendor-supplied parts.

It can integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP), product lifecycle management (PLM), and other software.

AAR, BAE Systems expand regional jet support

Commercial and government aviation services provider AAR has expanded its component repair and overhaul services with BAE Systems to include a wider range of components to support its regional aircraft programs.

AAR began the component repair contract in January 2019 and expanded the agreement in September. The scope of services focuses on BAE Systems’ out-of-production regional aircraft, with AAR repairing legacy platform components.

The Hera-150 CNC gear cutting machine offers compact vertical hobbing for gears up to 150mm diameter. It features 6 CNC axes (7 with automation), a 3.5 module (7.3DP) pitch rating, and 2,500rpm maximum hob speed. Radial travel of 180mm (from 15mm to 195mm center distance) between the work and hob axes allows a wide range of part sizes for gear cutting. For long cutting tools, the machine offers hob shifting up to 180mm.

Dialog programming with visual examples accelerates operator training. Operators enter data for cutting one or two gears on a single workpiece using single- or two-cut cycles with radial, axial, climb, or conventional hobbing (or any combination). Crowning (lead modification) and automatic shifting over a damaged hob section are also included.

Safety features include an electro-mechanical interlock and a splashguard door. The machine’s cast iron base provides greater dampening and stability for extreme cutting conditions.

Helios Gear Products LLC

The VHybrid 360 grinding and electrical discharge machining (EDM) erosion machine can process solid carbide or polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tools such as drills, milling cutters, or reamers in one setup.

Two vertical spindles in the C-axis pivot point allow high profile accuracy, and the shorter linear-axis travel reduces machining times. The bottom spindle can perform grinding and eroding, while the top spindle is reserved for grinding.

A range of automatic settings enable unmanned use of the machine. With the Vollmer tool manager, users can intuitively manage automatic switching of up to eight grinding or eroding wheels.

Vollmer of America Corp.

Modular boring systems

The Wohlhaupter modular boring line includes the Vario-Bore, Alu-Line, Combi-Line, and vibration-dampened NOVITECH intermediate modules.

• Vario-Bore head – Offers easy, accurate adjustment; stand-alone or used with a docking port for universal digital module; 0.0001" (0.002mm) accuracy on diameter
• Alu-Line – Lightweight rough, finish boring tools offer a diameter range from 2.56" to 128.15" (65mm to 3,255mm)
• Combi-Line – Boring tools perform rough, finish operations with a single tool, reducing cycle time, inventory cost
• NOVITECH – Vibration dampers reduce chatter in extended-reach applications; increase productivity, surface quality, process reliability; Multi-Bore connection (MVS) simplifies use with Wohlhaupter components

Allied Machine and Engineering

Twin-spindle lathe

The Muratec MW40 turning center offers accurate part processing and fast solutions for manufacturing fasteners and connectors. Built for precision, the MW40 can machine small parts, holding a tolerance less than 6µm.

Rugged and optimized to provide minimal thermal displacement during operation, the MW40 has a twin-spindle design for simultaneous or multiple operations from a single, self-contained, compact source.

The MW40 can also be engineered to include an optional single- or twin-gantry robot loader and live tooling with full C- and Y-axis milling capabilities on both turrets for automated production of complex parts.

Murata Machinery USA Inc.

Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering has begun in-process inspection of additive manufactured parts using a customized digital radiology vault and specialized additive manufacturing (AM) systems designed by university researchers. The new system was acquired through a $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded to Auburn’s Center for Additive Manufacturing.

A customized digital radiology vault from Pinnacle X-Ray Solutions accommodates AM machines, enabling 3D non-destructive interrogation of mission-critical metal parts and real-time process monitoring. Users can confirm internal dimensions of structures and assess finished part quality and the manufacturing process.

Bart Prorok, professor of materials engineering and principal investigator on the NIST grant says, “While we’re building a component with additive, it’s difficult to monitor what’s happening. With this new system, we can take two-dimensional X-ray pictures of a metal structure for real-time process monitoring or a series of 2D images in 360° of rotation that are then reconstructed into a 3D representation of the build.”

Auburn University College of Engineering

Pinnacle X-Ray Solutions

Metal AM components: $228 billion market

SmarTech Analysis predicts metal additive manufacturing (AM) will gradually develop more production-oriented business cases, generating up to $228 billion worth of components throughout the next decade. Driving factors include:

• Design for AM with designers consolidating assemblies into fewer parts which can only be produced by AM
• Efficiency, production-cost improvements of the individual technologies through scalable deployments, efficient material handling, and post-processing

Across all technologies, markets, and applications, production costs are expected to fall 40% on average per-part by the end of the forecast period.

SmarTech Analysis

AM polymer specifications for aerospace industry

SAE Int’l’s additive manufacturing (AM) polymer specifications for the aerospace industry – AMS7100: Fuse Filament Fabrication Process and AMS7101: Material for Fused Filament Fabrication – represent the first specifications released under the AMS-AM Additive Manufacturing Non-Metallic (AMS-AM-P) committee.

AMS7100 establishes critical controls and requirements to produce reliable, repeatable, reproducible aerospace parts by fused deposition modeling (FDM) or other material extrusion processes. It covers machine configuration, operating software, machine calibration, machine/build parameters, and testing methodology required to create certified AM aerospace parts.

AMS7101 outlines technical information, production guidelines, and documentation requirements for FDM material manufacturer.

SAE Int’l

PolyJet 3D printer

The full-color, multi-material PolyJet J850 3D printer boosts material capacity and print speed, shortening overall modeling time up to 50%.

High-speed mode allows more time for part refinement by printing concept models 2x faster. In addition, the J850’s larger, seven-material capacity allows designers to print a full range of color, transparency, and flexibility combinations in a single part.

Supported by GrabCAD Print software, the J850 can 3D print directly from any CAD format instead of converting STL files.

Stratasys