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Whitwam invests to inspect
13 Aug 2008
Aluminium alloy routing specialists, Whitwam Precision Components, has installed an optical, non-contact measuring machine that allows it to inspect flat aerospace components much more quickly that an traditional laser system and reverse engineer parts for which no electronic data exists.
Using the InspecVision Planar P120.50 CAD files can be created for a customer, from which further parts can be made. This service is being actively marketed, both within the aerospace industry and in other sectors as well.
Until 2007 Whitwam’s tier one customers were happy to inspect components on arrival, or provide a calibrated master so that the subcontractor could inspect parts by eye. The latter, although satisfactory, was not ideal as there was a risk of human error, which could lead to a batch of parts being scrapped.
Last year Whitwam won a contract from Generation Metals International to supply aluminium parts for the range of business jets being built in the US by Eclipse Aviation. The contract stipulated that all parts had to be inspected and certified before delivery. Whitwam’s manual methods were not adequate for inspection, necessitating the purchase of a computerised measuring system.
Components are checked on the Planar machine after they have been routed and the tags securing the nested parts to the skeleton have been removed by hand.
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