Capstone

Stringer End Trim Machine

Sponsor: Boeing (Auburn)

Team: Aero-Trim

Coach: Yon Lindsey

Students: Curtis Wiederhold, Jeremy Coyne, Ashley Lavin, Ammon Johnson, Tim Shurtz, Kyle Monson.

Working with Boeing (Auburn), Aero-Trim devised a new and updated mill that produces end trim geometry for all desired stringer-end profiles. The stringers, which give strength to airplanes, are now outdated and parts can be expensive and hard to replace.

Boeing is currently using a programmable 3-axis mill to cut stringers (a thin-walled aluminum part which attaches to the skin of an aircraft fuselage) but the new machine concept Aero-Trim has developed is fast, durable and accurate within 0.03 inch tolerance on all its cuts. They developed an end effector on the end of a robotic arm to make the cuts along with clamp fixture prototypes to steady their model.

2008/2009 Projects

• ATK Launch Systems
• Boeing (Auburn)
• Boeing (Everett)
• Burr Oak Tool, Inc.
• BYU
• Care for Life
• General Mills, Inc.
• Schlumberger
• Sustainable Energy Solutions, LLC
• Varian Medical Systems