Scaled has a new toy

mousebot · Oct 6, 2004

I wonder what this is for? <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> http://www.scaled.com/services/cms_mill.html

igorsboss · Oct 6, 2004

Time to start drawing up some interesting plans for a new hottub....

bobvanx · Oct 6, 2004

Doesn't Bigelow have that model (or its equivalent)?

mousebot · Oct 6, 2004

newartist "It just gives them MORE jobs they can bid on." Perhaps they already had a job they needed it for. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

bobvanx · Oct 6, 2004

One can hope! I know that I will buy a new piece of equip only after I sell the job that needs it. We live in an amazing era, when not only do we have the ability to order inventory "just in time," but also to order production equip that way, too.

dreada5 · Oct 7, 2004

Swampcat · Oct 7, 2004

"Doesn't Bigelow have that model (or its equivalent)?" According to the Bigelow Aerospace website, his milling machine is smaller than Scaled's. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ------------------------------------------------------------------- "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."Thomas Jefferson </div>

spacester · Oct 7, 2004

. . . buy a new piece of equip only after I sell the job that needs it . . . Count on it. There is *no way* they bought that beautiful monster without a specific job for it already in hand. Very cool. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

thermionic · Oct 7, 2004

I don't know much about manufacturing, but I was thinking that most of Scaled's construction is lay-up or molded. Would one mill a huge composite shell to achieve a more precise shape than the shell's mold supplied? I was just reading about a sailplane wing that is vacume-bag molded to a precision of 0.05", over 5.5 meters.

spacester · Oct 7, 2004

Tooling. If you needed to make a very large "mold" very precisely, something that you can use to form a large shell for, oh I don't know, a five-passenger sub-orbital vehicle for example, well, this machine would be just the ticket. Sadly, I don't know much about composite manufacturing techniques, so I'm guessing as much as anyone else. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

mrmorris · Oct 7, 2004

"...his milling machine is smaller than Scaled's. " I can see it now -- the battle of the aerospace geeks. Rutan: My milling machine is bigger than your milling machine. Bigelow: That's what you think, Composite Boy. *Mine* is inflatable!

Swampcat · Oct 8, 2004

<img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> That's good...an inflatable milling machine...<img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ------------------------------------------------------------------- "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."Thomas Jefferson </div>

kmarinas86 · Oct 8, 2004

inflatable drillbits? inflatable concrete supports? SpaceShipOne, the inflatable version! <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" />

mousebot · Oct 9, 2004

Well I guess for the mean time Bigelow only has plans for small scale versions to be launched into orbit for testing purposes, that equipment should meet those requirements. However if he wants to prove he's serious about having the final design ready by the end of the decade then he'll need to expand his operation before long.

Swampcat · Oct 9, 2004

"...if he wants to prove he's serious about having the final design ready by the end of the decade then he'll need to expand his operation before long." I'm not sure that's necessary. As spacester pointed out earlier, Scaled might need a larger milling machine to build molds for large composite parts. At any rate, the main use of a milling machine in Mr. Bigelow's inflatable modules would be for the central truss which doesn't require the fabrication of parts larger than his current machine can handle. IIRC, he already has one of these built. I'll try to find a link. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ------------------------------------------------------------------- "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."Thomas Jefferson </div>

para3 · Oct 9, 2004

Where? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> .....Shuttle me up before I get tooooooooo old and feeble.....---Happiness is winning a huge lottery--- </div>

mousebot · Oct 9, 2004

"At any rate, the main use of a milling machine in Mr. Bigelow's inflatable modules would be for the central truss which doesn't require the fabrication of parts larger than his current machine can handle." Spacehab uses a lathe 15' by 48', what are the final dimensions of the central truss going to be? Something close to transhab so nearly 50 feet long.

Swampcat · Oct 9, 2004

"Spacehab uses a lathe 15' by 48', what are the final dimensions of the central truss going to be? Something close to transhab so nearly 50 feet long." The full-scale module, the Nautilus, is expected to be about 45 feet (13.7 meters). I don't understand the reference to Spacehab. I'm not a machinist (and I'm not going to play one on the Internet <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />), so whether or not Mr. Bigelow needs a bigger milling machine is out of my league. All I can tell you is that this AW&ST article mentioned the existence of "a full-scale box-like longeron truss, looking like an aluminum truss chimney, that will form the structural core of the Nautilus module." Whether Bigelow Aerospace built it using their in-house milling machine or had it made by a subcontractor wasn't mentioned. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ------------------------------------------------------------------- "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."Thomas Jefferson </div>

mousebot · Oct 10, 2004

A full scale model would have been manufactured by a contractor if Bigelow doesn't have any equipment other than the mill. He just doesn't have the ability to build something that large with the tools he has. I mentioned Spacehab only because they do similar work.

najab · Oct 10, 2004

> He just doesn't have the ability to build something that large with the tools he has. Why does the truss have to be milled from a single piece of material?

spacester · Oct 10, 2004

Why does the truss have to be milled from a single piece of material? Good point, of course it almost certainly doesn't. Something like a truss would typically be a fabricated part, not a machined one. IOW, you make it out of flat bar, angle bar, round bar etc and all you really need is a cutoff saw, welding and grinding. However, if the stuff you need to attach to it needs precise location of mouting holes etc, you find that the accuracy of fabrication is not even close. Welding warps things so there's basically no such thing as a precision weldment. So after it's all welded up, you take it over to the milling machine to put finished surfaces and holes in it. There are other ways to deal with this than taking the whole monstrosity over to a huge 5-axis milling machine, but on the other hand, having such a tool available would be pretty cool for the designer. For one thing, your certainty that things are where they belong on the finished product would be much higher. Oh man, would I like a peek under the tent! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

Swampcat · Oct 10, 2004

"I mentioned Spacehab only because they do similar work." I was not aware that Spacehab was building inflatables. The Spacehab modules I have seen use a rigid skin. najaB: "Why does the truss have to be milled from a single piece of material?" I was hoping to make this point by finding some images of the Nautilus truss reported to have been seen by AW&ST, but the few images I found were inconclusive. As spacester said, it would certainly be useful to have a large milling machine, but the fact that Bigelow Aerospace has managed to construct a Nautilus truss, however it was done, makes it a moot point. spacester: "Oh man, would I like a peek under the tent!" Yeah, that would be interesting. Access to Bigelow Aerospace facilities has been highly restricted -- ostensibly due to competitive concerns. The word is that this is about to change. No word on when. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ------------------------------------------------------------------- "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."Thomas Jefferson </div>

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