Kapp Niles Offers High-Precision Solutions for Aerospace

Kapp Niles offers tailor-made solutions for the precision grinding, measuring and documentation of gears and profiles, presented as part of its Trust in Technology campaign.

“We have been focusing intensively on gears for the aerospace industry for over 40 years,” said Matthias Kapp, managing director at Kapp Niles. 

Whether for drives or planetary gears in engines, for flap actuators, helicopter main drive gearboxes, or for drive and adjustment mechanisms used in Mars rovers, Kapp Niles’ solutions enable high-precision grinding and measurement of essential, flight-safety-critical components for aircraft, helicopters, and spacecraft.

Machines in the VX series are specifically designed to meet the aerospace industry’s demanding requirements.

High-quality guide systems with scraped guides ensure maximum precision and consistent quality for decades of operation.

Using the integrated measurement system (AMS), workpieces are measured before and after the grinding process and evaluated in terms of quality. All results are documented, ensuring full traceability of part quality years later.

VX machines can be equipped with one or two interchangeable grinding spindles, allowing up to six grinding wheels to be used simultaneously. This makes it possible to grind multiple gears in a single set-up. Additional carriers for grinding arms can also be mounted on the same interfaces to machine internal gears. Both dressable and non-dressable CBN roughing and finishing tools can be used. Equipping the optional zero-point clamping system, setup times for grinding spindles and additional grinding heads can be reduced by 85 percent.

While standard CBN tools previously achieved surface qualities of Ra < 0.4 μm, these new grinding wheels enable surface qualities of Ra < 0.2 μm on the workpiece. In addition, a profile shape with ffa < 1.0 μm can be achieved on the tool. Improved reproducibility of surface finish and profile geometry reduces adjustment effort during tool setup and significantly increases process reliability for customers.

Kapp Niles also offers comprehensive solutions for gear measurement in the aerospace industry. The KNM 2X, 4X, 6X and 9X measuring machines cover a wide range of measuring tasks.

Thanks to a flexible tailstock, even very long workpieces, such as main and auxiliary shafts, can be measured with high precision. A quick-clamping system allows secure mounting of special geometries as well as standard components, while minimizing setup and non-productive times.

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