This connector shell made of Hastelloy B-2 is a component of an electricity storage device used in the aerospace industry. This quite intricate, very small part is just 5/8” in diameter and 3/8” thick. It was machined on Garner’s Mazak Quick Turn Nexus-II 250 twin spindle live tooling lathe and the Charmilles Wire EDM machine.

Making 5,000 pieces of this very precisely machined part is no simple task. However, Garner’s long-standing customer knew that we could produce these parts within tolerance and on time. The high performance alloy Hastelloy material is very difficult to machine, in this case turned to a tight tolerance of /- .001” OD on the lathe, with live tooling used to interpolate three pins from the solid material. The interior diameter is wire EDM cut, including five square slots on the ID.

Stringent tolerances were a requirement, with the most difficult operation being holding the .001” concentricity of the second operation cut of the ID and slots to the outer diameter. The OD tolerance was held to /-.001”. Three custom fixtures were made to hold the part on the OD. They were precision machined at nominal, .001” and -.001” with locators to hold the outer lugs to precisely time the five interior notches.

The parts were 100% checked for diameter and the matching fixture was used to hold the part in perfect position for cutting the ID concentric with the OD. Quality assurance measures are paramount as this is a flight-critical aerospace component requiring that 100% of the parts were inspected on several critical dimensions.