Custom Gel Injection Machines

Aircraft manufacturing is an increasingly competitive international business. To ensure long-term profitability and gain a marketplace advantage, the modern aerospace component manufacturer must continue to improve productivity and quality.

At KRC Machine Tool Solutions, we design and build innovative automated specialty machines to help manufacturers in a variety of industries streamline fabrication, enhance production and improve quality. In this case study, we discuss the issues facing the client, our problem-solving approach, and the resolution.

The client is a manufacturer of jet turbine blades, which are subject to heightened standards due to the extreme environments they perform in day-in, day-out. In an effort to satisfy industry demands while maintaining superior product quality, the client partnered with KRC Machine Tool Solutions to develop a semi-automated process to coat internal turbine blade surfaces for further heat treatment activities.

The client’s existing turbine blade inner-surface coating method required shop staff to manually inject proprietary slurry inside a turbine blade, through an internal cavity, and out of tiny in-blade orifices. The process was inefficient, produced non-repeatable results and required an extensive workforce. 

After assessing the client’s goals, facility space limitations, and production capabilities, our team worked with the customer to develop a semi-automated gel-injection machine that introduced the proprietary slurry inside turbine blades, through internal cavities and out tiny in-blade orifices in a fraction of the time required by the prior method.

After heat treatment, high-pressure water pump, a back-flush process rinsed the slurry at high pressures after heat treatment in a secondary KRC designed & built machine. Our semi-automated solution offered greater consistency, reduced labor needs and was so simple to use that anyone could operate the machine, regardless of skill level or experience. The gel injection machine required no power, utilizing only pneumatics for logic and process automation. Tailor-made for the client’s unique needs, this tool was not previously available in the marketplace. After some additional development, KRC Machine Tool Solutions integrated the client’s proprietary slurry injection process into a fully automated unit.

custom gel injection cnc machine

Ask Us A Question

Client Obstacles

  • Manual process 
  • Proprietary slurry injection limitations delayed turbine blade heat-treatment processes 
  • Untrained or distracted personnel could damage costly components
  • Off-the-shelf machines already available did not meet client needs

KRC Machine Tool Solutions' Answers

  • Custom machine to fit client’s specific circumstances
  • Machines contained all client-specified features
  • Semi-automated gel-injection machine introduced proprietary slurry into turbine blades, through internal cavities, and tiny in-blade orifices for heat-treatment processes
  • Purified water applied at high pressures using a water pump successfully rinsed slurry following heat treatment 
  • Improved consistency
  • Reduced labor needs
  • Easy to operate

Contact Us

Many clients rely upon KRC Machine Tool Solutions because we overcome difficult challenges with sound, simple results. We’ll meet your timeline and surpass your objectives. Contact us for more information about our specialty machine solutions.