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Formerly chemically etched, this titanium engine casing was the first of it’s kind to be milled by one of the world’s best known aero engine manufacturers.

Titanium engine casing

The conical component is made from a solid titanium forging, and measures just under one metre across its base.  Weight is a critical factor of the components design, so the conical skin is exceptionally thin - in the order of 0.5mm in places.  All positional, section and surface finish tolerances are understandably very tight.

The geometry for the component is also complex – it is built up of a regular pattern of nearly 400 triangular ‘cells’ laid over the skin of the component, interrupted by various apertures and bosses.

Because the client was changing from chemical-etched to milled manufacturing, our advice was needed on design improvements for production.  Other design changes were also planned, due to the component’s R&D status.  A machine tool had been specifically purchased by the client for manufacture of this single component, therefore cycle times were also critical to achieve the required production schedules.

To help reduce the cost of redesigns, the programming of the ‘regular’ shaped cells was automated with a series of programming macros, which adapted to each new design with minimum intervention.

We also developed an innovative plunge roughing technique using a range of cutter sizes.  This eliminated more traditional roughing methods, saving considerable machining time.

The client is now able to reliably machine the component to the very high standard required and is comfortably meeting their production targets.

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Email          :  cnc (at) peak-nc.co.uk

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