Machining parts more efficiently, while increasing part size

END USER: Sonaca Montreal Inc., (450) 434-6114, www.sonacamontreal.com

SOLUTION PROVIDER: Fives Liné Machines Inc., (450) 372-6480, www.fivesgroup.com

CHALLENGE: Machine aerospace parts more efficiently and precisely while increasing part size.

SOLUTION: A 5-axis, high-rail vertical gantry mill.

Plenty of machine tool builders offer equipment for producing large parts; significantly fewer provide machines for cutting gargantuan workpieces.

Sonaca Montreal Inc., Mirabel, Quebec, was manufacturing wing skins up to 57′ (17.37m) long and 8.5′ (2.59m) wide for business and regional aircraft on three long-bed gantry mills but needed a high-performance machine to add capacity while increasing productivity and part accuracy, said Paul Stafiej, vice president of strategy, business development and innovation. Those parts include classic skins without integral stringers and monolithic ones with stringers. The company also makes empennage panels and other wing structures, such as spars.

All the company’s gantry machines have vacuum tables for holding parts. “We hold the skins directly on the table without any fixturing,” Stafiej said.

Sonaca Montreal purchased a Powermill V 5-axis vertical gantry mill to machine large aerospace parts, such as wing skins up to 70′ long. Image courtesy of Fives Liné Machines.

Stafiej estimates that there are about half a dozen builders of suitable machines in the world, and the company considered purchasing a machine from three or four of them. Ultimately, Sonaca Montreal selected Fives Liné Machines Inc., Granby, Quebec, because it has considerable experience building long-bed gantry mills, including ones for Boeing Co., Chicago, and is located less than 100 miles (161km) away, he said. “Being close is certainly a good thing.”

Stafiej added that Sonaca Montreal was looking for a high-performance machine with the latest technology to support its organic growth. “We are also trending toward Factory 4.0,” he said.