MAG: Cold Air Gun Aids in Aerospace Applications Overview The global corporation MAG offers a comprehensive line of equipment and technologies serving a wide range of industries including aerospace, automotive and truck, heavy equipment, oil and gas, rail, solar energy, wind turbine production and general machining. Their services include process development, automated assembly, turning, milling, automotive powertrain production, composites processing, maintenance, automation and software development. The company has facilities in the Americas, Asia and Europe. The headquarters for MAG Americas is located in Erlanger, KY and they have five main production facilities in North America, including one located in Hebron, KY, which is the center of excellence for composites technology. The Challenge Milo Vaniglia is Senior Project Engineer at the Hebron facility where he directs mechanical design of new products. Vaniglia’s team developed the company’s VIPER® Fiber Placement Systems (FPS). This composite fiber placement machine combines the advantages of tape laying and filament winding with advanced computer control and software. The fiber-reinforced graphite composite parts the VIPER® produces offers significant advantages over metal for the aerospace industry. Essentially, the VIPER® provides an effective method to make graphite/epoxy one-piece structures for aerospace applications. Vortec, an ITW Company 10125 Carver Road Cincinnati, OH 45242

MAG: Cold Air Gun Aids in Aerospace Applications The VIPER® machines have seven separate axes of motion, making them particularly suited to highly contoured structures such as cowls, ducts, fuselage sections, pressure tanks, nozzle cones, tapered casings, fan blades, spars and “C” channels. In developing this innovative system, Vaniglia realized that a cooling component was essential to prevent the tow or ribbon of composite tape from adhering to itself prior to placement, thus guaranteeing wrinkle-free, nearnet shape lay-up. In providing its high-profile aerospace customers with this technology,...