COMBET OPENS ULTRA PRECISION
29 August 2008
Greg Combet, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, today officially opened Rosebank Engineering’s Ultra Precision Center in Bayswater in Victoria.
The Ultra Precision Centre is a leading edge metal engineering facility with the capability to support military platforms including the F-111, F/A-18 Hornet and AP-3C Orion aircraft, as well as helicopters and emerging capabilities such as the Global Hawk and other Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
“Rosebank Engineering is an Australian-owned high technology small-to-medium enterprise that provides Defence with specialised services in fine mechanisms and precision hydraulics used in aircraft mechanical and structural components,” Mr Combet said.
“Rosebank Engineering’s precision grinding and hydraulics skills have allowed Australia to keep its F-111 aircraft flying. Rosebank’s investment in the Ultra Precision Center with the latest sophisticated precision capabilities will allow the company to support the newest and latest technologies being introduced by the ADF.”
The Ultra Precision Center has the capability for sub-micron machining and finishing down to tolerances of approximately 1/300th of a human hair.
It incorporates:
- High-specification clean rooms with temperature and humidity environmental controls and air pressure/filtering to keep the rooms dust free;
- A unique under-floor, pneumatically supported, concrete inertia beam designed to provide a vibration-isolated platform for precision machine tools; and
- Facilities for analysis and testing of hydraulic flight controls.
Another of Rosebank Engineering’s state-of-the-art capabilities is Supersonic Particle Deposition. This is an advanced technique for applying corrosion protective coatings whereby metal alloy coatings are deposited onto metal substrates at supersonic speeds without significant heating of the spray powder or the substrate.