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Ahead of its inaugural rocket launch, orbital launch services company (Forres, Scotland and London, U.K.) has significantly boosted production for its carbon fiber Payload Avionic Module (PAM) using ’ (MSP, Northumberland, U.K.) PerfectPart CNC metrology solution to overcome challenges with part distortion and cut part setup time from 5 hours to 30 minutes, making the process 900% faster per part. 

The introduction of these solutions has also halved overall production time, simplified fixturing processes and given Orbex the confidence parts will be machined right-first-time. As the company looks to increase production, MSP has been critical in providing Orbex with a repeatable and scalable process which uses its existing equipment. 

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Heavily restricted by traditional alignment methods, Orbex sought out a solution to ensure quick and accurate CNC machining of PAM. “The PAM is a large, composite thin-walled part, and the layup is delicate in places,” explains Gavin Belton, Orbex CNC operator specialist. “The risk of distortion makes it difficult to know exactly where to machine.” It was taking a minimum of 5 hours to align each part and the inability to account for distortion had caused windows and pockets to be machined to incorrect sizes, leading to issues in assembly and causing rework. “The parts are worth tens of thousands of pounds and take around 6 weeks to produce so if we lose one it’s time, money and material we can’t get back,” adds Belton.

Due to the importance for right-first-time machining, MSP PerfectPart was deemed essential. In addition to providing Orbex with a solution for creating accurate alignments, the metrology suite would also ensure any errors — within probe setup and calibration and within the CNC machine — would be accounted for. 

The error removal routine starts with AutoClock and NC-Checker. Together, the products remove human error from the probe calibration process and NC-Checker then assesses the geometric performance of the CNC machine tool to confirm it is capable of machining a part to within tolerance.

“Immediately an issue was flagged in the C- and B-axis which could have caused holes on the outside diameter to have been misaligned,” says Belton. “The 30-minute check helped the machine tool vendor work out what the error was likely to be and rectify this before machining began.”

To solve Orbex’s part alignment challenges, MSP’s NC-PartLocator product was introduced, well-suited to aligning complex, distorted or thin-walled parts. The software measures the part using five-axis probing and automatically generates a best fit alignment in six degrees of freedom. The software compensates for discrepancies between the physical part location and the nominal machining program, for example, when distortion has occurred. The updated alignment is automatically uploaded to the controller, no additional machining program edits necessary and any misalignment errors are automatically removed.

“When you press the Go button, you can see the alignment coming through and know you’re going to get out exactly what you expect,” Belton adds. “And the speed with which everything is set up — it has made life easier.”

The results are evident of this. Orbex has cut its variable 5-hour part setup time to a stable 30 minutes, making setup 900% faster. In addition, overall production time has been halved from 2 days to 1 day. 

Orbex’s fixturing routine has also been improved. Belton says, “Rather than having to dowel everything down and constrain the part, we’ve been able to produce a simpler fixture. We don’t have to skim the fixture each time, we can use it as it is, and the MSP Best Fit alignment will come in and work out what it should be. The whole package is a no brainer. The risk reduction when machining such a high-value part cannot be understated.”

As Orbex’s launch date looms, MSP PerfectPart will play a big part in the ramping up of production. “We currently only have one CMS [Ares] machine, so because we’ve essentially increased its capacity, it’ll ease any bottlenecks,” says Belton. “When we do decide to buy more, the simplicity of the MSP package means we’ll be able to drag and drop that process onto another machine so we can transition into production easily, keep quality high and hit the ground running.”