F-35 Composite Edge of Part Machining

Material: Composite Wing Skin Material Conventional Machining Method: Tool life lasting 9 liner feet at one-third the total material thickness Required a total of 24 tools per wing skin Excessive delamination of the composite material System Solution: Increased cutting distance more than 6x (from 9 to 57 linear feet) at full material thickness Reduced number of tools per wing skin from 24 to 2 Reduced programming time and increased productivity while reducing scrap Cost Savings = $80K per aircraft with an estimated savings/cost avoidance of $222.6M over the projected build of 2,783 F-35 aircraft