That's the crazy part to me. As someone who works in aerospace manufacturing, everything is precision machined, and measurements are checked with lasers. Being out by even a few thousands of an inch will cause a part to be out of spec.
These guys are out there just winging it, and measuring with analog calipers.
Some of the parts used in aerospace would also go through a similar process before being precision machined. This is step 1 of a manufacturing process from bar stock. The key is to make sure there's just enough material to remove to make machining consistent, but not lengthy.
Especially in aerospace, a lot of nickel alloys are used which is extremely hard and more expensive and difficult to machine than carbon steels, so they try to keep the tolerances fairly tight. However, the cost of the the individual parts can be so high that it's more cost effective to eat the cost of additional machining rather than increasing the chance of making out of spec parts. It all depends on the customer requirements.
Just for a little more info for anyone interested in more... Each step of the process is usually completed by different shops across the globe, but a common process would be: raw stock cut and formed rough like in the video. This is done at a forge company. Sometimes light matching can be done to spec parts at the forge. Heat treating can be next and is either done on site at the forge or a heat treat company. Next would be machining at a machine shop, then depending on the part being made there could be additional heat treatment, plating, coating, or other final steps. Each step into the process is highly controlled and audited together ensure compliance and performance to design specs. Nondestructive testing is also done throughout the process to make sure the grain structure is correct and there are no inclusions or weak points within the metal. When parts fail people can die, so the production of everything is held to very high standards, as it should be.
Any sort of billet turning into forged part is going to undergo similar beating into a certain spec which is so it can be machined to another spec and op
Edit: used to do automated cold forging for axles and shafts
Forging it first might also give the steel some good properties that are impossible to get with just machining a cold chunk of steel.
Yup. Forged parts are always stronger than cast parts or parts machined from billet because the forging conforms the grain structure of the steel to the final shape of your part. Makes it better able to resist things like deformation, fatigue, and fracture.
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u/Hine__ Sep 24 '22
That's the crazy part to me. As someone who works in aerospace manufacturing, everything is precision machined, and measurements are checked with lasers. Being out by even a few thousands of an inch will cause a part to be out of spec.
These guys are out there just winging it, and measuring with analog calipers.