AMAMCO Tool
Process Solutions
Custom Tool Solution Helps Launch Satellite Program
Faced with aggressive deadlines to deliver specialized satellite parts, San Diego’s Vanguard Composites Group started a search. They needed to reduce the time required to machine thick composite sandwich panels before assembly. The large flat panels, made in a variety of measured thicknesses, serve as support structures for satellite antenna reflectors. Vanguard is one of […]
Latest Posts
Super Drills
More sophisticated drills enable shops to tackle superalloys with ease No one can put as fine a point on how complex drilling has become during the past few decades than a veteran machinist like Peter Diamantis. Diamantis recalled that when he started out 30 years ago drills held a status in the tooling hierarchy not […]
Custom Tools Achieve F-35 Stealth Characteristics While Lowering Assembly and Operating Cost
Manufacture of the stealthy Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II has two important precision machining activities: (1) edge routing of the wing skins and forward fuselage panels and (2) drilling of holes in the machined parts to assemble the wings and forward fuselage. All external structural surfaces are made of carbon-epoxy (one of many CFRPs) with […]
Tool Type and Geometries
Hole ambitions? Optimize! Customize!
Matching the drill tool to the job can save thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars. For six decades, “you get what you pay for” has been the marketing mantra for manufacturers and suppliers of composite products who argue that, despite their historically high initial cost, composites are the superior product in terms of overall […]
Cutting Tools for Composites
Machining composites presents unique challenges compared to metals. Reinforcement fibers are abrasive, shortening tool life. The plastic matrix carries away little heat, unlike metal chips, and overheating can melt the matrix. Composites can delaminate, and burrs and fibers show on poorly drilled holes or poorly trimmed edges. Other challenges include machining or drilling laminate stacks […]
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