Part Name: Aluminum manifold

Material: 6061 Aluminum

Challenge: Given the depth of the slots and the apparent flimsiness of the finished piece, work holding was a challenge in this very complicated part consisting of hundreds of surfaces. Deburring inaccessible features was also a concern.

Solution: The direction of the clamping pressure applied to this piece was critical - by taking advantage of the finished piece's rigidity longitudinally, we were able to aggressively hog away metal during the roughing pass. The complexity of the piece was no challenge at all for our primary CAD- CAM program, Surfcam, which can be used to do mold work involving thousands of surfaces. Deburring was accomplished by bead blasting, producing an even, peened surface with good structural integrity.