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The high requirements for complete machining and assembly in jigs, replacing traditional pre-machining of individual components prior to assembly, is boosting the development of new machining technologies, such as flexible and mobile machining equipment and new tools and processes. Tomorrows airplanes are designed around large subcomponents with vast tolerances, that is impossible to pre-machine prior to assembly, but has to be machined in the assembly jigs, using adaptive machines with the capability to drill up to 1,5 inches diameter and 8 inches deep holes in titanium in one shot, without deforming the component being drilled. The machines and processes must also have the capability to circular interpolate holes from ¼ inch up to 2,5 inches in stack material, consisting of titanium, aluminium and carbon fiber, maintaining tolerances of H7 without delamination and/or deformation of the components.

The utilization of new materials and tightening of desired tolerances has driven the advancement of Practical and Portable Automated Machining. Increased demand in volume within the aerospace industry not only requires minimizing the amount of manual operations, but also applying automation inside existing manual fixtures. In the past, manual labor, with drastic limitations on achievable accuracies, has been utilized in areas that machine tools cannot either access or the limited amount of work does not justify the expense of additional machines. Assemblies requiring critical hole alignment or drilling through stack materials often are difficult to achieve using manual operations. The solution is a practical and very portable machining unit that is small enough to fit into otherwise difficult areas and is lightweight enough to be either moved into position by small machines or quickly disassembled/assembled with each subassembly capable of being positioned manually.