Aerofab Inc. has taken delivery recently of its ninth system from PRIMA North America – LASERDYNE Systems. The company made the announcement stating that this latest system is the standard LASERDYNE 795 equipped with the Convergent Lasers CL50k Nd:YAG laser which allows processing of complex parts, along the full travel of the Z-axis at compound angles as shallow as 10 degrees to the surface. This is important in processing today's turbine engine components where designers require increasingly wider flexibility in hole placement and accuracy to achieve higher performing, fuel efficient engines with less emissions.
"LASERDYNE produced systems continue to set the standard for difficult turbine engine cylindrical and shaped hole-making processes," stated Terry VanderWert, president of PRIMA North America. "Driven by real-world customer requirements like those presented by Aerofab, LASERDYNE has developed features within its S94P laser process control that help them maintain airflow as tight as +/-2% on a new generation of aerospace parts where +/-10% has been the norm. This allows users like Aerofab to produce parts with extremely close tolerances and with exceptional repeatability."
Aerofab Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana, is a manufacturer of sheet metal and machined components for commercial aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines. Its stated mission is to be the world's best manufacturer of complex aerospace and gas-turbine components and meet NADCAP requirements.*
Aerofab's new system includes a full complement of LASERDYNE hardware and software features such as the proprietary Automatic Focus Control (AFC), Optical Focus Control (OFC), BreakThrough Detection, and the Convergent Lasers CL50k ability to provide closed-loop control of hole size. Also included is SPC Data Acquisition software, which is used increasingly by Laserdyne Systems customers to capture processing data used in NADCAP reports.*
These real-time data logs enable the analysis and reporting of laser process information that Laserdyne expects NADCAP to require in the near future. NADCAP is the leading worldwide cooperative program of major companies designed to manage a cost-effective consensus approach to special processes and products such as laser drilling of aerospace components. The stated NADCAP vision is to develop a world-class special processor supply base for the global aerospace industry using a cost-effective industry managed accreditation process.