Blade Tip Repair

After tip welding, blade tip repair automatically blends the welded area to the existing airfoil profile, grinds the blade to the proper length, and adds the "squealer tip," without damaging the parent material. Multiple stages of HPC blades can be blended with one system with minimal hand blending.

Process

• Each blade is held in a precision fixture after welding. Depending on the part size and machine used, the process can accommodate one blade per cycle.
• The process can make use of a variety of digitizing technologies to gather airfoil profile data. The data is then automatically converted into a CNC program which directs the machine to follow the correct contour.
• The weld bead is ground to size without touching the parent material.
• Grinding tolerances from -0.000" to as low as +0.003" (-0,0 mm to +0,076 mm).

Material

• Nickel-based and titanium-based material.

Cycle Times

Estimated range between 1 1/2 to 5 minutes per blade depending on blade configuration and material removed.

Machine Features and Benefits

• Available on the Huffman HS-200, HS-190 and HS-150 series grinding systems.
• A 10 hp (7 kW) variable-speed spindle for CBN or diamond grinding wheels.
• Contact probe or other digitizing device for data capturing.
• Huffman Open Architecture Control (OAC) or other "open" controls provide seamless integration of the entire process—all done automatically and with impressive speed:
  • Digitize
  • Create program
  • Execute grinding cycle