We dare to venture on the cutting edge...

Since our humble beginnings we have never been afraid to take on challenges. Our ability to take on and succeed at these certification challenges sets us apart from those that simply want to take the simplest route to making money for their services. Some of our first projects were by no means a cake walk and for some they seemed impossible. We worked on the BV234 Stick Boost Actuator which amplifies the signals from the pilot input from various flight controls to which each SBA is attached. We developed and FAA approved a method to pump hard chrome plating solution through the complex electrohydraulic unit to prevent damage to the electronics inside. These SBAs were also part of an NTSB investigation before and resulted in a Service Bulletin making the task even more challenging. 

From there we began to work on other BV234 hardware including the cargo hook assembly components including the titanium formers and cargo hook itself. At the time I was working for U.S.Chrome who happened to specialize in hard chrome plating on titanium. To this day many in aerospace simply don't know that it can be done. Well we were experts at the coatings as well as on aluminum alloys. Since the formers and hook experienced galling and fretting damage a hard and durable coating needed to be applied. Our process fit the bill and we developed DER repairs for chrome plate repairs on the various surfaces thereby extending the life of these expensive parts. 

On some Liebherr BK117 helicopter tail rotor actuator pistons we developed repairs to premachine into existing chrome and add on additional chrome plating to minimize the impact of repairs since the other options would have required the stripping of all existing coatings rendering the parts beyond economical repair. Similarly for some of their valve bodies we were able to develop and approve repairs that only affected localized areas while retaining others that would have scrapped the parts. 

We also worked on a DC8 Service Bulletin to repair the threaded ends of main landing gear retract cylinder pistons by excising 7 inches from the piston end after removal of all coatings, fabricating new sections to inertia weld on to the remainder of the piston head end, heat treat, machine. pull test to 50,000 lb force, followed by remanufacture of the pistons for nearly the entire DC8 fleet at the time. I performed all the planning and repair execution from the Douglas Aircraft Service Bulletin which nobody else in industry would tackle. 

I never restrict my repairs to a given coating so that means I am willing to try new and cutting edge solutions. On my most successful repair, the Honeywell MD80 main starter housing, for American Airlines I developed a hard chrome, nickel and weld repair to salvage every starter housing except one which was damaged so badly we used a section of it to repair another. In total over 900 housings were repaired at a fraction of the new OEM cost.

Today I work with even more cutting edge repair technologies to repair miniscule surfaces with the same or harder material through an alloying process which doesnt cause a heat affected zone so it makes it ideal for parts where there is localized damage that would be destroyed by typical welding techniques like knife edge seals, etc... and a host of materials including aluminum, inconel, magnesium, steel, engine blade grade materials and more. This process can also be used to restore hardness to carburized surfaces by removal of the top carburized layer and replacing it with another metal.

I also help guide and certify major repairs for aluminum and magnesium parts using a process called Cold Spray per MIL-STD-3021 which uses a supersonic stream of gas to deposit materials on to substrates using plastic deformation while also not creating a heat affected zone. A large amount of material, under strict controls, can be deposited in a short period of time and simply be machined and protected with a coating afterwards. I am working on the certification of many magnesium rotorcraft parts for the S-76, S-92, Bell 206, etc...as well as many non-rotating (static) magnesium engine parts on the largest single production engine flying today as well. The Cold Spray process is quickly replacing welding, plating and epoxy repaired coatings since it offers many benefits and more adhesion strength and durability since the coatings are fully dense, porosity free and tough.