Hot Section Vane

Hot section vanes of commercial aircraft jet engines get repaired; I know, I find it sketchy too, but it’s FAA approved.

When the vanes fray out after a certain time, they get welded up, and remachined to spec.

In the past a clamp would hold the vane onto a radius fixture. That sometimes would distort the vane just enough for the machining to match poorly.

Our fixture works in two steps: the first hydraulic circuit pulls the vane down onto the fixture. Then the second circuit actuates 6 pistons, 3 times 2 of which are directly opposed perpendicular onto the vane surface. The vane is securely held and the is zero distortion.

Then a touch probe locates the slightly shifted (from part to part) work offsets, and failure free machining is achieved on every part.