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Aerospace Defence

Airframe Designs takes 3D scanning to new levels

Aerospace specialist Airframe Designs is helping to solve major challenges for its customers by offering new levels of 3D scanning as it expands its services.

Image courtesy Airframe Designs

The company offers in-depth scanning with speed and accuracy, capable of capturing the geometry and creating digital twin data-sets of entire aircraft, assessing corrosion or other kinds of visible damage, reverse-engineering tool surfaces and inspecting small parts or intricate areas in fine detail.

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Garry Sellick, additive manufacturing manager, said: “This capability allows us to gather highly accurate geometrical data for our customers with a comprehensive view of the aircraft inside and out, performing scans on-site at the customer’s location based on their specific needs.”

The hand-held 3D laser scanner is regularly used for reverse engineering, a process which enables an object to be fully examined in fine detail through cutting-edge blue light technology combined with advanced post-processing software.

This follows investment by Airframe Designs in a new Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) system, a second Stratasys Fortus 3D printing machine, a new five-axis milling machine and new sophisticated resin printing technology to offer increased capability and quality of parts and tools for its increasing customer base.

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The company has also become a member of Additive Manufacturing UK (AMUK) whose aim is to establish the UK as a world leader in the development and adoption of additive manufacturing.

The services offered by Airframe Designs meet the demand from the aviation and defence sectors to create new parts or re-engineer obsolete parts in an agile, cost-effective and sustainable manner.

With polymer additive manufacturing technology, combined with 3D scanning and 3D modelling, the company now offers creative solutions to complex engineering problems in the aviation and defence part market, including solutions for airframe tooling. This technology can also be adapted for other industries such as space.

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