Quote:
Originally Posted by john70t
That is a cool project.
Quick question: How are the tools you custom-design different from those already in use?
-Cost of sourcing OEM?
-Transport conditions?
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We
are the OEM...
"Tools" in the world of manufacturing large commercial aircraft can be anything from a screwdriver to a large, floor-mounted assembly jig in which a body section is put together, to as big as a wing for drilling skins, spars, etc. Many of our "tools" are bigger than your house. We delineate between purchased, off-the-shelf tools (screwdrivers, drill motors, etc.) and "special tools", designed specifically to perform a given operation during the manufacture of the aircraft.
In my little AOG world, we are not "manufacturing", and most tools used in manufacturing are too big to travel with. That, and we repair damage or incorporate changes on the aircraft. As a result, most of the tools used in manufacturing, even if we could bring them with us, are pretty useless for what we do. We use far more task-specific tools, designed for a specific repair or modification.
The cradle in the nose wheel well is a good example. We would never use anything like this in the factory. When we swap gear here, we jack the airplane on its primary jacking points. When we wheel them around, they are on their gear. In this case we had to remove the gear so it would go low enough on the trailer to get under powerlines and such. We also have to secure the fuselage to the trailer. So, this "special tool" not only has to support the fuselage vertically, it also has to accept acceleration and decelleration loads, as well as tipping loads. As such, it mounts to the gear mounts themselves. Normally if we cradle an airplane (as opposed to using the primary jacks, for whatever reason), we just rest it on a wooden buck since we are not moving it around.
The cradles under the wings (picking up engine strut mounting points) would never be used in the factory either. They are another job-specific tool that we will use here and likely discard when we are finished. They will be used to support the wings during removal and reinstallation, something we would not normally do. So, those are the kinds of "tools" I'm responsible for.