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Die pre-heating has a beneficial effect on die life, by reducing thermal shock and stress fluctuations on the die surface. The findings from this paper indicate that the die surface stress decreased by 44% when the die is pre-heated to 150°C, and decreases by 57% when the die is pre-heated to 200°C, in comparison to when the die is started "cold" with an initial temperature of 20°C. Changes to the die start-up procedure, by switching off the die internal water cooling for the first four casting cycles, results in the die heating to operating temperature in fewer casting cycles, resulting in fewer castings being scrapped before the die achieves steady state operating temperature. From this, a saving of four castings per start-up can be made, reducing scrap by 4.5%, leading to lower manufacturing costs, reduced energy usage and increased useful die life.

The parallel kinematics machine (PKM) Exechon is proposed to be used in a flexible fixture for aircraft wing assembly. The capability analysis and tests are required to investigate the suitability of the proposed fixturing solution. The research concern in this paper will be the static stiffness analysis of the Exechon device, which is a very important element of flexible fixturing solution for aircraft wing assembly using PKM. This paper will detail the experimental tests of the Exechon machine's stiffness to understand its stiffness characters and to provide validation data for Finite Element Analysis (FEA) work in developing analysis models of the Exechon device with representative stiffness characters. The preliminary FEA work in solid models and beam models with parametric modeling function will be included.