Delcam's PowerMILL Used to Machine Airbus Wing Ribs Simultaneously

Programs created using Delcam's PowerMILL CAM system have been included in a turnkey package developed by Chiron for Magellan Aerospace to make a range of wing ribs for the Airbus A320. The package is based around the new Chiron Duo Mill advanced machining system, which incorporates twin 90kW spindles to allow simultaneous 5-axis machining of port and starboard wing ribs. Magellan is one of the largest UK suppliers of detail components into wing build at Airbus. It produces around 1,300 different parts for Airbus and is represented on all of its programs. The Duo Mill machine has a 4,500mm overall bed length with twin swivel head spindles operating on twin working areas. Each working area holds a 2m x 450mm rotating cube fixture that can be lifted out for in-cycle loading and allows full machining of the ribs in two operations – machining one side from billet and finish machining the semi-finished rib from the previous cycle. As Haydn Martin of Magellan says, "The reason for having a Duo twin spindle machine, with two identical setups on either side of the machine, is that we produce a port and a starboard rib at the same time. Every time the machine cycles you are getting a finished pair of components, so it is a single piece flow process that reduces machine down time." He adds that full, 5-axis machining with the swivel head means that there is no need for deburring on features such as the rib feet.