From airliners to eVTOLs: Manufacturing expertise with hyperMILL® CAM strategies
Key Takeaway
Driving Innovation in Modern Aviation
From large aircraft manufacturers and engine manufacturers to helicopter suppliers, eVTOL developers, and innovative start-ups – civil aviation places the highest demands on precision, materials, and process reliability. With hyperMILL®, manufacturers, MRO companies, and young technology companies have access to CAD/CAM technology that enable them to manufacture complex components efficiently, economically, and in a future-proof manner. This makes hyperMILL® a key enabler for innovation, quality, and competitiveness in the modern aviation industry.
Complex components in aircraft construction – clear solutions with hyperMILL®
Structural components
Structural components in civil aviation are often large, thin-walled, and made of aluminum, titanium, or CFRP, placing high demands on programming and machining. Typical challenges include high machining volumes, long machining times, and the highest standards in terms of dimensional accuracy and surface quality.
This is where our modern manufacturing strategies come in: High-Performance Cutting (HPC), innovative tool technologies such as barrel cutters, and intelligent 5-axis machining. In combination with other powerful CAM strategies from hyperMILL®, this leads to stable processes, shorter throughput times, and first-class results – even with the most complex geometries.
The advantages of
hyperMILL® in structural component manufacturing
- Adaptive roughing strategies
for maximum roughing performance and stable machining processes - Special methods for deep residual material areas,
developed specifically for large-volume structural components - Patented plane milling
for highly efficient machining of wall areas with barrel cutters - Collision avoidance and path optimization
during job calculation thanks to the digital twin of the real machine
Engine components
Engine components are among the most demanding components in civil aviation. Whether engine cases, discs, rings, turbine blades, or blisks—tight tolerances, complex geometries, and difficult-to-machine materials place the highest demands on manufacturing. With hyperMILL®, suppliers can reliably master these tasks: powerful HPC turning strategies ensure efficiency for engine cases, while specialized 5-axis strategies for blisks and turbine blades guarantee maximum precision and perfect surface quality. In addition, hyperMILL® is a leader in the optimized application of conical barrel cutters—a technology that enables enormous time savings for turbomachinery components while delivering excellent surface quality.
The advantages of
hyperMILL® in engine component manufacturing
- Strong turning strategies
hyperMILL® offers strong and innovative turning strategies including 3-axis HPC turning - Optimized use of barrel cutters
for significantly faster finishing with perfect surfaces - Adaptive machining processes
for precise and economical manufacturing of engine components, even with varying raw part situations - Special 5-axis strategies
for blisks and turbine blades, enabling simple programming, maximum process reliability, and efficiency - Automated deburring and hole brushing,
especially where functional holes for cooling, fluidics, or sensors are part of safety-relevant components - Hybrid machining processes
thanks to the seamless combination of additive and subtractive strategies
Landing gear components
Components that have to withstand extreme loads are made from high-strength titanium or special steel alloys. Landing gear components are subjected to greater stress than any other aircraft component, particularly during takeoff and landing, which means that no compromises can be made during production. hyperMILL® offers the right solutions here: powerful HPC strategies ensure stable machining of difficult-to-machine materials, while optimized toolpaths reduce cutting forces, extend tool life, and lower costs. The result is reliable, reproducible processes and a manufacturing quality that meets the highest aviation standards.
The advantages of
hyperMILL® in landing gear component manufacturing
- Combined milling and turning machining
under a uniform CAM interface with a consistent Postprocessor - Adaptive roughing strategies
for maximum roughing performance and stable machining processes - Optimized functions to improve tool life
for economical and reliable manufacturing - Reliable NC code simulation and stock tracking
across all machining steps, as well as detailed representation of additional axes and complex spindle heads for maximum process reliability
Honeycomb materials
In aircraft construction, honeycomb materials are primarily used in secondary structures where maximum rigidity and minimum weight are required. Typical applications include cabin floor panels and side wall panels. As this material is particularly sensitive, machining is carried out using ultrasonic cutting blades, among other things. The hyperMILL® KNIFE Cutting module provides a specially tailored solution for this: cutting contours can be easily programmed and implemented precisely and reliably on 6-axis machines.
From rotor heads to gearboxes – precision in helicopter manufacturing with hyperMILL®
Helicopter construction places its own demands on manufacturing: in addition to structural and engine components, rotor components, gearboxes, and complex lightweight structures play a particularly important role.
These components are often made of titanium, high-strength aluminum alloys, or composites and must be extremely resilient, low-vibration, and weight-optimized. For CNC machining, this means high precision for complex geometries, reliable multi-Axis Indexing, and efficient strategies for difficult-to-machine materials.
hyperMILL® allows these challenges to be reliably overcome thanks to special features ranging from powerful HPC strategies to automated programming functions.
Innovative aviation ideas – manufacturing reliability with hyperMILL®
eVTOL concepts mark a completely new era in civil aviation. Start-ups and established manufacturers are currently developing a wide variety of designs – from lightweight frames and complex structural and engine components to innovative hybrid and propulsion systems. Often, the final manufacturing spectrum is not yet clearly defined in the early stages of development.
This is exactly where hyperMILL® offers decisive advantages: With a wide range of innovative CAM strategies—from high-precision 5-axis machining and HPC methods for difficult-to-machine materials to additive and hybrid approaches—even completely new component concepts can be implemented flexibly and efficiently. hyperMILL® is thus supporting the eVTOL industry as a technological enabler on the path to the aviation of the future.
Maintenance and overhaul – process reliability with hyperMILL®
In the field of MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul), precision and reproducibility are key. The reconditioning of safety-relevant components such as turbine blades, landing gear, or structural components requires processes that can be flexibly adapted to the respective component situation.
With hyperMILL®, adaptive machining processes can be highly automated, for example. During the process, individual deviations or wear conditions of a component are detected and toolpaths and machining strategies are dynamically adjusted – a decisive advantage, especially when repairing turbine blades.
hyperMILL® BEST FIT offers an intelligent solution for the precise alignment of components to be repaired: The existing component is measured, automatically aligned in virtual space, and the NC program is adapted to the actual conditions. This means that even components with tolerance deviations can be machined reliably, efficiently, and reproducibly—without manual readjustment or complex clamping devices.
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