Taking off with bespoke solutions

The UK aerospace industry encompasses everything from design to the manufacture of aircraft, satellites, missiles, engines and much more. With global manufacturers such as Airbus, Rolls Royce, GKN, BAE Systems, Boeing, Safran, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin and Honeywell based in the UK, the aero industry is known for its quality and expertise.

This sector plays a vital role in providing a highly skilled workforce and all of these companies depend on a robust and reliable supply chain, which includes over 250,000 subcontract engineering companies. These OEM and SME companies produce components from airframes to landing gear, jet and turbofan engines to wings and spars – all made from a wide range of materials, that we at Quickgrind have the expertise to process.

Materials such as aluminium, titanium, steel, stainless steel, nickel alloys, cobalt alloys and composites are the mainstay of these components, but there is one common thread – and that is cycle times and cost per part. At Quickgrind, we help customers realise their production requirements in both cost and production throughput. By applying our services, be it the tools, the machining strategy, remanufacture or vending; we provide a vital link as a strategic partner.

As a leading UK manufacturer of solid carbide cutting tools, Quickgrind is very well positioned to supply high-quality standard tools from stock and produce bespoke tools in a rapid turnaround. It is all about communication, understanding what our customers are trying to achieve, and coming up with solutions.

Rather than looking into the bewildering array of parts manufactured within the aerospace industry; we need to know four things. The type of tool required, the material to be machined, the machining conditions and when you need the tools.

By taking this rather simplistic approach, we narrow down the requirements into two categories. This is ‘Will a standard tool satisfy’ or ‘Would a bespoke tool be better suited’.

Let us look at bespoke tooling. Our reputation has been built by providing solutions to manufacturing challenges, listening to our customers and engaging our highly trained and motivated staff. To this aim, we developed an in-house strategy, known as ‘Infinite Possibilities’. This encourages customers not to be restricted by catalogue items but to work with us to develop the optimised cutting tool for the job. This can ring alarm bells with price, but in truth, the cost of the tool can often be fractionally higher than a standard tool. When looking at the cost of using an inferior tool compared with a bespoke tool that solves the issue, the price is swallowed up by a stable and secure production process.

Standard tooling. Many solid carbide tool manufacturers have large ranges of standard tools, which can be bewildering. We have a smaller range to satisfy your immediate requirements and keep your machines running. With around 500 tools in 40 different types, you will likely find the tool you want, be that an end mill for steel, a high feed tool for die steels or HPC for trochoidal milling in HRSA materials, we have them available.

Our Samurai and Warrior ball nose ranges for hard machining applications and our Eliminator range of barrel tools can save up to 90% cycle time when finishing. We also have the Orbis lollipops that are fast becoming a favourite with many a decerning programmer for those difficult-to-reach features.

Drilling in some of the aerospace materials and applications requires the best. At Quickgrind, we have specially designed features on our tools to cope with HRSA, deep holes and step drills. Last, but certainly not least, one of the most cost-saving and environmentally friendly services we offer is that of re-manufacture. When implemented and managed correctly, savings of 25 to 40% off your tooling budget can be realised. Our QuickEdge service offers regrinding of our tools and other manufacturers’ tools to such a high degree they provide a ‘good as new’ tool life and performance, time and time again. Just think of the savings you can achieve with 4 to 9 times more uses from your tools. More in-depth knowledge and insights can be found on our website www.Quickgrind.com