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
Composites Machining for the Lockheed Martin F-35
How can precision machining be made less expensive? That question—in one form or another—occupies much of the attention of various Lockheed Martin engineers. If the same kind of precision five-axis milling used in the F-35 skin parts could be applied cost-effectively throughout the plane, the result would be higher-performance aircraft that are far less expensive […]
Coated Carbide Cutting Tools Offer Superior Cutting Geometry and Longer Tool Life
After rigorous testing, Lockheed Martin chose coated carbide tools made by AMAMCO Tool (Duncan, SC) for machining composite wingskins on the F-35 strike fighter project. When Lockheed first began assessing router and drill tools for the plane’s production in its DST machining center (Dörries Scharmann Technologie GmbH, M önchengladbach, Germany), it used a polycrystalline diamond […]
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 […]
AMAMCO Tool