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The recent contribution rise in 3D printing is rapidly changing the whole industry. In aeronautics, it has 2 major domains of growth: Aircraft parts Tooling and portable tools Aircraft parts in metallic 3D printing have been highly publicized in the media, although they represent only a tiny share of the aircraft cell in the short term. On the other hand, metallic (and non-metallic) 3D printing in tooling and tools can bring immediate advantages compared to traditional methods. The advantages: Design made directly for the final function Optimized for strength vs weight Weight reduction Reduction in number of parts Short cycle time from design to use Low cost for customization The drawbacks Limited in size We have already applied this new manufacturing technique to obtain real breakthroughs in portable tools.

The quality requirement for drilling operation in aerospace industry associated to the different material layers of the recent aircraft design is one of the most challenging issues for manufacturing engineers who want to design system for one-shot drilling operation. We have developed and validated in production a handheld electrical tool which is able to accurately monitor the drilling parameter and to adjust the drilling conditions to specific material in the stack-up. This “Smart Driller” achieves quality and performances equivalent to those obtained by the most advanced heavy automated drilling systems at a small portion of weight and cost.