There are some occasions in life when you need absolute confidence in the equipment around you. Whether you’re boarding an aircraft for a sunshine destination or being wheeled into an operating theatre in hospital, the equipment you rely on needs to be nothing short of excellent in every respect. In the aerospace industry, tubes, which are generally used in airframes, engines and instrumentation, must be sturdy yet light and able to withstand the most challenging of conditions. In medicine, tubes must offer the utmost reliability, ready to support the most complex of medical procedures without causing additional risks to patient safety.

Trepanning is a machining technique for drilling large diameter holes in materials, particularly where there is a requirement to retain the solid core or when tolerances are not particularly tied up.

Outsourcing – already a familiar concept in IT and payroll – became a popular option in manufacturing following the 2008/9 recession, and the trend has persisted since, with many engineering companies recognising that outsourcing can bridge the skills gap as well as keeping costs low, improving turnaround times and boosting profit margins.

Honing is the precision machining process in which a very fine surface on a workpiece is produced using an abrasive tool. High quality honing of hydraulic cylinders is essential, as the effective operation of the pistons depends on the cylinder having a very fine surface finish, which can also prevent premature wear of moving components. Honing also creates a secure seal around a hydraulic cylinder, providing extended life and preventing costly leaks.

Many of us take a mental inventory of the year just gone as we count down the minutes to the New Year, and at Hone All we are lucky to have had numerous favourite moments to choose from last year.

We are very much looking forward to our first major event of 2020 – the Make UK National Manufacturing Conference on 25th February.

Shortly before Christmas, we were delighted to be awarded the Best Sub Contract Machining Award, as part of SME News Magazine’s 2019 Energy & Power Awards.

Investing in new equipment is always an exciting and busy process. As part of our planned expansion and improvement plan in 2020, we are delighted to announce the arrival of our next Pinacho 3 metre CNC lathe, which is scheduled to arrive in our workshop within the next few weeks.

The aerospace market experiences scrutiny like few others. Financial accountability is coupled with moral accountability, and brands can be extinguished with minor errors. All parts of an aerospace project, therefore, require the highest levels of quality. Here’s how to ensure that every component can fly safely.

In aerospace manufacturing, the choice of metal makes a big difference. This is because different metals behave differently when under stress, when heated, and when cooled. The characteristics of metals have a strong influence on manufacturing techniques, such as deep hole boring and gundrilling. Here’s a quick guide.