Aircraft galley manufacturer invests in Rye precision

Citation

(2000), "Aircraft galley manufacturer invests in Rye precision", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 72 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2000.12772fab.007

Aircraft galley manufacturer invests in Rye precision

Aircraft galley manufacturer invests in Rye precision

Keywords: Rye Machinery, CF Taylor Interiors, Machining, Routing

One of the world's major manufacturers of galleys for passenger aircraft, CF Taylor Interiors Ltd, has invested in a second Rye CNC router for precision machining of fibrelam honeycomb composite materials and various alloys of aluminium at its factory in Llanelli, South Wales. In all, CF Taylor has two factories in the UK. That at Llanelli opened in 1989 and the company's head office has been at Wokingham, Berkshire, since 1981. The company's first Rye router was installed in 1990, and was one of the first Rye routers to be used for machining aluminium panels.

At Llanelli, increasing orders and a need to machine larger panels introduced during 1997 the requirement for a CNC machine capable of cutting and machining components as large as 3m x 1.5m, 90 per cent of which are in fibrelam honeycomb composite. This consists of two sheets of fibreglass bonded to a lightweight honeycomb structure to produce a rigid yet extremely light panel of great durability, available in a variety of thicknesses. The other 10 per cent of the panels cut on the Rye CNC router are of aluminium in various grades.

These panels are used in the manufacture of galleys and crew sleeping quarters for virtually every type of Boeing and Airbus aircraft, in configurations designed for airlines all over the world. In the nature of the shape and quality assurance requirements of aircraft, components for the galleys often have to be machined to complex curves with great precision. Extensive use is made of sophisticated CAD/CAM systems and components are dimensionally checked to extremely fine tolerances using the latest co-ordinate measuring machines. The Rye router must therefore deliver a very high standard of accuracy, precision and repeatability.

According to Martyn Blewett, senior production engineer at Llanelli, the key benefit of the new Rye MA2515 TP twin-table CNC router (Plate 6) is its large bed. The sizes of components machined on it range from as little as 150mm sq. to 3m or more in length. When small components are being machined, the two tables are split, so that the operator can be loading and unloading one while the contents of the other are being machined.

Another example of Rye's growing contribution to aerospace technology is the installation of a Pentaxial five-axis CNC router (Plate 7) which is reported to have significantly reduced costs for a major aerospace tooling sub-contractor in the north-west of England. North-West (Aerotooling) Ltd of Dukinfield, Cheshire, manufactures precision tooling for leading engine and airframe manufacturers throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

Plate 6 The New Rye MA2515 TP twin-table CNC router in use at CF Taylor Interiors

Plate 7 Rye Pentaxial CNC router

"We have had a three-axis CNC milling machine for years, but we used to sub-contract the five-axis work", said Darrin Grant, managing director of the company. "Now we are able to handle everything in house to even higher standards of accuracy and repeatability".

The growing company handles a wide variety of work on the Rye CNC Pentaxial, including complex top-quality tooling in aluminium alloys and tools machined from epoxy or polyester tooling block. Tolerances are typically 0.1mm or less. The company also makes carbon fibre mould tools for carbon fibre composite components and glass fibre panels for aircraft wings.

The Rye Pentaxial CNC router is being used by an increasing number of aerospace manufacturers in Europe, as a means of achieving high-speed, high-precision machining of comparatively large cubes at moderate cost. In many cases, Rye Pentaxials are thought to be able to handle the final machining of large and complex components at a fraction of the cost of traditional CNC machining centres used in the industry, since the initial capital cost of the Rye Pentaxial can be as little as quarter that of a large CNC machining centre.

Details available from Rye Technology Ltd. Tel: +44 (0)1494 44121 1; Fax: +44 (0)1494 440345; E-mail: sales@rye.co.uk Web site: www.rye.co.uk