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Aerospace Manufacturing previews some of the exhibitors in the show halls at this year’s Advanced Engineering 2022, being held from November 2-3 at the NEC, Birmingham.

We begin our round-up of exhibitors with Mirka UK on stand (stand X140). The abrasives and sanding specialist will be focusing on automation with its robotics line-up, including a range of sanding heads. These products provide businesses with an automated process solution that allows them to manage large volumes efficiently and cost-effectively, while ensuring a consistent high-quality finish and a significant reduction in abrasive usage.

The robotic sanding heads are suitable for a wide range of industrial processes and drive-up productivity and finishing quality with robotic precision. They have a compact design that makes it ideal for confined spaces, detail work and sanding of small areas where deflashing or deburring is required. The tool can be fitted to low payload robot arms and comes with a standardised ISO 9409-1-80-6-M8 flange that can also be customised with an adapter.

Moving on, Indestructible Paint (stand M150) is at the forefront of efforts to develop alternative coatings to help make the world safer, better and greener. As prominent industries such as aerospace strive to become increasingly environmentally sustainable, a key focus has been to find a replacement for traditionally used chromium trioxide, used to provide highly-durable protection to aerospace and industrial gas turbine hot-end components where temperatures up to 1,000^oC are normal.

The company will be showcasing the exciting results of an extensive research project led by its in-house experts, with funding and support from Innovate UK. The project has led to the development of one of the first viable alternatives to diffusion coatings containing Chromium-VI. The ground-breaking solution, called CFIpal, exceeds the performance of traditional coatings and is already being awarded approvals from major industry primes.

Also in the show halls, Mini Gears Group (stand Q142) has made a huge investment in its gear grinding capacity with the arrival of a brand-new Gleason Pfauter profile grinding machine P600/800G, resulting in the company doubling its previous maximum grinding diameter. This investment opens up new opportunities in markets where enquiries received have been for larger gears requiring this finishing operation.

Mini Gears can now offer a gear grind only service for external grinding of spur gears, helical gears and splines up to 800mm diameter, grades DIN/AGMA 3 to 4, maximum face width 600mm and from 1 to 15 Module. This is in addition to the service already provided for manufacturing complete supply of ground gears up to 400mm with a maximum face width of 125mm.

Elsewhere, marketing and communications experts, the Fluency Business Group (stand W152) will be attending this year’s Advanced Engineering show. The company will be promoting its services in digital marketing, brand development, press and social media management, along with design services including photography, video, and website creation. In addition, Fluency will also offer event services including pop-up stand design, along with larger booth design and build, as well as promotional opportunities such as speaker presentations.

Fluency is a leading marketing service provider for the advanced engineering sector, in liaison with businesses throughout automotive, aerospace, construction, medical, marine, sport, and green energy sectors.

Along the show aisles, Maka (stand R116) will launch its new and highly innovative DC-7H 5-axis CNC at the event. The DC-7H has been developed in response to customers’ demand for a more compact 5-axis machine, with improved ergonomics for the operator, higher speed and efficiency, improved dust protection for composites and higher precision.

The new DC-7H heavy-duty 5-axis CNC features a large vertical turnover table, driven by large trunnion-like rotary drives, and two spindles. Precision and repeatability with these vertical tables is as high as achieved with traditional horizontal tables.

Machining composites vertically enables dust to be contained and extracted better. Waste can fall into the collector below the table. The machine is also easier to keep clean and loading is quicker.

Being vertical, the DC-7H also provides the potential for robotic loading. The new machine requires less factory floorspace. Production costs are also reduced without compromising precision, stability, quality or reliability. The heavy-duty DC-7H is designed to maintain precision and quality, and manufacturing resilience long-term. The DC-7H can machine composite mouldings on five sides, and internally, with a 5-axis 3D usable capacity of either 2,000mm or 2,600 x 600 x 400mm.

Along with the faster table change, cycle times can be slashed by using two spindles simultaneously on the same component. Optional tool magazines are available to accompany the high-power spindles specified for machining composites, including high-density carbon fibre and aluminium tooling boards.

Connect 2 Cleanrooms (C2C) will be exhibiting its range of modular cleanroom solutions on (stand K112). Its custom-built ISO cleanrooms create controlled manufacturing conditions, facilitating the production of a reliable and consistent product that is predictable in performance. Working to the latest BIM standards, each cleanroom build is project-managed with enhanced levels of coordination, through clash detection and prefabrication.

C2C’s validation team certifies the class or grade of each cleanroom facilities during commissioning and provides on-going revalidation services. The company has worked with many leading brands, such as Leonardo, Airbus, and Lockheed Martin.

In the next aisle Ultima Forma, found at the Surface Engineering Association (stand L120) is a UK-based specialist electroforming company that has developed a novel electrodeposition process, enabling the creation of complex 3D multi material metal components that are lightweight, yet high-strength, with locally-tailored material properties. This provides flexibility in component design and enables multiple functions to be integrated into a single component, such as structural and thermal properties or hybrid composites.

This advanced engineering process enables the design and manufacture of metal components with advanced shapes and material properties that are currently not possible with conventional manufacturing methods. Parts can be ‘grown’ to incorporate, or be joined directly to, dissimilar materials, thus optimising the product performance and value.

Ultima Forma works with a range of advanced engineering firms across the aerospace, defence, space, and energy sectors, predominantly focused on surface coating (erosion and thermal management), antennas and RF components, high pressure and cryogenic storage and hybrid structures.

Finally, Shimadzu (stand F140) is a leading Japanese company involved in the manufacture of precision analytical instrumentation used in a wide array of industries. 

A team from its UK division will be available at the show to discuss its latest developments in material testing, including Shimadzu’s ultra-high cycle fatigue testing machine. Other testing solutions include universal testing frames, micro hardness testers, FTIR, UV and EDX spectrometers, high-speed video cameras and balances.

www.advancedengineeringuk.com