Positioning and orienting a drill axis on a curved surface

A novel technique, referred to as a vector setting in the aerospace industry, has been developed for positioning and orienting drilling bushes on curved surfaces. The position and orientation of holes and their axes in parts and tooling in the aerospace industry must conform to strict tolerances; however, the process of locating and orienting the bushes in drilling plates having curved surfaces is slow and time consuming. This is because the existing process used is a trial and error one, and past research in automated drilling in the aerospace industry has not covered this area. A prototype device has been developed which reduces the setting time. The device has two angular adjustments, which are computed using specially written software. The device is used in conjunction with a 3D spatial measurement system in order to determine reference points on the part or tooling and the device. Experimental results on a prototype indicate a substantial time saving as well as good accuracy in orienting the drill axis at a given point on a surface.