Meet your maker

Andair ABX
Andair ABX

With the help of Citizen CNC machine tool equipment, Andair flies out of subcontracting into world market production with its own aerospace-developed products and accessories. Aerospace Manufacturing reports.

The dream and ambition of many subcontractors has been realised by Andair in developing its own product. As a result, it has the security and control over areas of quality and margins against the challenging factors that face subcontractors, such as when a customer dictates through an enthusiastic buyer, meeting the challenge of cost-down demands and last minute variance in orders or new delivery deadlines.

“My father Andy built up a very successful precision machining subcontract business supplying customers in autosport, local aerospace and paint spraying equipment,” begins managing director, Owen Philips. “But it was in 1991 that opportunity knocked on his door that set the change in motion for us to become an OEM and to design, develop and put into production our own fuel valve selector for light aircraft.”

Today the company, no longer under the pressures of subcontract manufacture is producing some 600 different components for its own range of pumps, fuel selectors, gascolators, check valves, filters and accessories. It has invested over £400,000 in the last 18 months in new equipment including a Miyano ABX-64SYY2 multi-axis turn-mill centre from Citizen.

Andair 5245
Managing director, Owen Philips (right) and production manager, Bryan Randall are producing some 600 component types for the aerospace industry

The transformation came about from Andy Philips’ passion to build his own Vans RV6 sports aircraft and when the four large crates arrived from America, his keen machinist’s eye was drawn to the design and immediate apparent level of quality being applied to a particular and very critical inflight fuel selector valve.

Over the next two years any spare time from machining was spent designing, then producing prototypes in his machine shop. Ready for launch in 1994, he set off to an American airshow taking a chance with a suitcase of valves to try and set up a distributor network and successfully explaining to US immigration they were: ‘Just a few samples’.

Having a fairly warm reception as a Brit selling at the US show, he arrived back in the UK with some 50 plus order faxes and introduced a new era to his family life that required his subcontract operation to support the initial launch. As a result, the subsequent growth of Andair, now run by son Owen, has spawned a range of products that has created a host of customers worldwide, including highly respected names in the world of sports, classic, amateur and commercial light aircraft.

Produced in-house

As demand grew, in 2005 the need for reliability, precision and accuracy led father and son to buy their first Miyano BND-42S5 for production turning followed by a second identical machine the next year. Both helped set the company’s future strategy of ‘produce in-house’ which applies to everything except specialist items such as magnets and stators and lower cost standard fixings. This internal working concept also led to investment in a series of machining centres.

Meanwhile, Owen was setting about designing a new concept in pressure relief valves for light aircraft which have duplex chambers able to aid economy by recirculating any unburnt fuel back to tank. This was followed by his own concept of a brushless motor design in 2007 and both product lines were developed totally around the turning capability of the BND machines.

Andair has enjoyed great success with the development of its own high pressure fuel boost pump
Andair has enjoyed great success with the development of its own high pressure fuel boost pump

With several larger capacity versions of a high pressure fuel boost pump able to feed up to 60 gallons per hour at 60psi now on the drawing board, Owen ordered a Miyano BND-51SY2 in 2014 to give a greater 50mm bar capacity for his new project, which was followed by a high specification Miyano ABX-64SYY2.

“The ABX machine has taken us into a different production world, giving us all the advantages of single operation machining cycles,” he explains. “Having nine axes and the added flexibility of two spindles and twin, 12-station all-driven turrets each with Y-axis cross feed, it’s absolutely ideal for our needs.”

Within six months of installation, 30 different key components have been programmed and machined with another 70 or so on the stocks that will benefit from the machine’s capability against existing methods. As an example, a valve body that was previously machined in two operations on the two spindle, 6-axis, single turret BND-51SY2 in eight minutes, this is now machined complete in one cycle in under 4.5 minutes on the ABX with all the added advantages of the insurance of maintaining geometrical relationships between different features.

“All our parts are machined out of L168 aluminium, which has a high mechanical strength and is free machining,” concludes Owen. “We generally work to 0.01mm tolerances on important features and surface finish has to be visually excellent. As the machine has proven to maintain the level of precision we demand, we run batches between 60 and 350 parts and we can set during the day and leave the machine to run overnight on bar fed components.”

www.citizenmachinery.co.uk

 

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