Fast Turnaround: Aerospace Aluminium Bracket from Drawing to First Article

A rapid turnaround case on a structural bracket machined from 7075-T6 plate: how the job was planned in parallel, programmed and fixtured, and how the first article was approved and delivered against a tight deadline.

The deadline

The customer needed a structural bracket machined from 7075-T6 plate approved and in production to support a line stoppage, and the schedule left little room for a second attempt.

The requirement was 2 mm walls with a profile tolerance of plus or minus 0.05 mm, so speed could not come at the expense of a proper first article inspection.

Planning in parallel

Programming, material procurement and fixture design ran at the same time instead of in sequence.

The material was ordered from the model before the final programme was finished, which removed the usual waiting period.

Programming and fixturing

The toolpath was simulated against the solid model and the machine kinematics before any stock was cut, which removed the usual prove-out loop.

A soft-jaw fixture machined in-house located on the drawing datums, so the first part was measured in the same reference as it was cut.

First article and approval

The first article was measured in full and the report, photographs and material certificate were sent to the customer within 5 days of the order.

Approval came back without changes, and the remaining parts were completed on the original schedule.

Delivery and follow-up

Parts were packed to survive the transit method agreed with the customer and arrived ready for fitting.

The programme and fixture were retained, so repeat orders now run without any development time.

Summary

The lesson we carry into similar work is simple: spend the time on the setup, and the cutting takes care of itself.