{"id":133911,"date":"2025-11-15T01:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T01:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/133911\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T01:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T01:30:09","slug":"orbex-makes-part-setup-900-faster-for-key-composite-parts-ahead-of-inaugural-rocket-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/133911\/","title":{"rendered":"Orbex makes part setup 900% faster for key composite parts ahead of inaugural rocket launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Orbex <\/a><\/p>\n

Source (All Images) | MSP<\/p>\n

Ahead of its inaugural rocket launch, orbital launch services company Orbex<\/a> (Forres, Scotland and London, U.K.) has significantly boosted production for its carbon fiber\u00a0Payload Avionic Module (PAM)\u00a0using Metrology Software Products<\/a>\u2019\u00a0(MSP, Northumberland, U.K.) PerfectPart\u00a0CNC metrology solution to\u00a0overcome challenges with part distortion and cut part setup time from 5 hours to 30 minutes, making the process 900% faster per part.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The introduction of these solutions has also halved overall production time, simplified fixturing processes and given Orbex the confidence parts will be machined right-first-time. As the company looks to increase production, MSP has been critical in providing Orbex with a repeatable and scalable process which uses its existing equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heavily restricted by traditional alignment methods, Orbex sought out a solution to ensure quick and accurate CNC machining of PAM.\u00a0\u201cThe PAM is a large, composite thin-walled part, and the layup is delicate in places,\u201d explains Gavin Belton, Orbex CNC operator specialist. \u201cThe risk of distortion makes it difficult to know exactly where to machine.\u201d\u00a0It was taking a minimum of 5 hours to align each part and the inability to account for distortion had caused windows and pockets to be machined to incorrect sizes, leading to issues in assembly and causing rework. \u201cThe parts are worth tens of thousands of pounds and take around 6 weeks to produce so if we lose one it\u2019s time, money and material we can\u2019t get back,\u201d adds Belton.<\/p>\n

Due to the importance for right-first-time machining,\u00a0MSP PerfectPart\u00a0was deemed essential. In addition to providing Orbex with a solution for creating accurate alignments, the metrology suite would also ensure any errors \u2014\u00a0within probe setup and calibration and within the CNC machine \u2014 would be accounted for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The error removal routine starts with\u00a0AutoClock\u00a0and\u00a0NC-Checker. Together, the products remove human error from the probe calibration process and NC-Checker then assesses the geometric performance of the CNC machine tool to confirm it is capable of machining a part to within tolerance.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately an issue was flagged in the C- and B-axis which could have caused holes on the outside diameter to have been misaligned,\u201d says Belton. \u201cThe 30-minute check helped the machine tool vendor work out what the error was likely to be and rectify this before machining began.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/a><\/p>\n

Orbex manufactures the carbon fiber\u00a0structures for its launch vehicles using its CMS Ares machine.<\/p>\n

To solve Orbex\u2019s part alignment challenges, MSP\u2019s NC-PartLocator product was\u00a0introduced, well-suited to aligning complex, distorted or thin-walled parts. The software measures the part using five-axis probing and automatically generates a best fit alignment in six degrees of freedom. The software compensates for discrepancies between the physical part location and the nominal machining program, for example, when distortion has occurred. The updated alignment is automatically uploaded to the controller, no additional machining program edits necessary\u00a0and any misalignment errors are automatically removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you press the Go button, you can see the alignment coming through and know you\u2019re going to get out exactly what you expect,\u201d Belton adds. \u201cAnd the speed with which everything is set up \u2014\u00a0it has\u00a0made life easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

The results are evident of this. Orbex has cut its variable 5-hour part setup time to a stable 30 minutes, making setup 900% faster. In addition, overall production time has been halved from 2 days to 1 day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orbex\u2019s fixturing routine has also been improved. Belton says,\u00a0\u201cRather than having to dowel everything down and constrain the part, we\u2019ve been able to produce a simpler fixture. We don\u2019t have to skim the fixture each time, we can use it as it is, and the MSP Best Fit alignment will come in and work out what it should be. The whole package is a no brainer. The risk reduction when machining such a high-value part cannot be understated.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Orbex\u2019s launch date looms, MSP PerfectPart\u00a0will play a big part in the ramping up of production. \u201cWe currently only have one CMS [Ares] machine, so because we\u2019ve essentially increased its capacity, it\u2019ll ease any bottlenecks,\u201d says Belton. \u201cWhen we do decide to buy more, the simplicity of the MSP package means we\u2019ll be able to drag and drop that process onto another machine so we can transition into production easily, keep quality high\u00a0and hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source (All Images) | MSP Ahead of its inaugural rocket launch, orbital launch services company Orbex (Forres, Scotland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-133911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}