AIM Altitude is creating a Centre of Excellence for five-axis machining at AIM Composites in Waterbeach, Cambridge, UK. Part of the AIM Altitude aircraft interiors group, AIM Composites is investing in a new Belotti five-axis milling machine, to be used for high-speed trimming of complex molded components. This will be housed alongside an existing Uniteam five-axis machine, new measurement equipment and supporting software.
“The majority of our projects for the AIM Altitude Group, as well as outside customers, require significant amounts of five-axis machining,” said Chris Leese-Wood, managing director at AIM Composites. “It is therefore important that we invest in an in-house capability. This will support our current production needs, along with the anticipated future increase in this element of our work. Typically, we run hundreds of one-off components each month to complete a single ship-set of parts. These small batch-sizes mean that fast setup and turnaround of components is critical.”
Belotti has specified a purposely-configured machine. In addition, the Uniteam five-axis machine has been transferred from AIM Altitude’s Cabin Interiors division. The machine has also been configured with MSP probing, to allow in-process probing and validation.
July 13, 2016
