Ever wonder how it's made? Take a look!
A behind the scenes look into production
     There is a lot of question as to how our parts are made. There aren't many days when our sales reps aren't asked if we 3D print or injection mold our plastic parts. Hopefully this can alleviate some of your curiosity!
     
     The method used to produce most airplane plastics is called "thermo-forming." This method is the most cost effective and works great for the relatively short runs found in general aviation. In this process a sheet of plastic is heated and then vacuum formed to a mold creating a new part from raw material. 

     We have several different vacuum tables of various sizes. The one seen above is a 5 x 9 foot table. The plastic gets clamped into a sliding mechanism a few inches below a heating element. When the proper temperature is achieved, the slide of plastic is then pulled over the table which is hooked up to a vacuum pump. The table rises and seals around the edges. At the flip of a switch the air is sucked out. The workers are there to ensure that the plastic doesn't form 'webs' between parts (webs refer to the extra plastic that resembles the web between the toes of a duck). The whole process is not unlike vacuum packed meat. The OEM plastic was .60 gauge ABS; we use .90 and .115 gauge ABS and .93 gauge Kydex, the extra thickness increases strength and longevity of the parts.
     Shown here, Patrick is cutting the table out with a box knife. While the plastic is still warm, a box knife is a very effective tool for rough cutting the plastic off the table; however, it is not recommended for trimming so please don't try this at home! The parts are removed from the molds, labeled, and sent to the finishing department to be cut and trimmed for shipping or inventory.


     Our molds are made from OEM parts that are reverse engineered with fast-cast or fiberglass to create parts to match to original. Unfortunately, all planes are slightly different so in most cases we put the cutlines on the molds extra long as to avoid customers getting their parts too short. This is also why we don't cut many of the holes. What may work for one plane will likely be wrong for the rest. 
     Shown to the right, Ryan follows the cutline with his pneumatic saw to cut out this doorpost for a Cessna 150. 
     Aside from the pneumatic saw, we also use pneumatic drum sanders and routers. As far as hand tools, we use an assortment of files and sanding blocks to shape the plastic. To get a nice smooth finish along the edges we use a tool called a deburring blade. This tool is intended for removing the burrs from sheet metal but it works wonderfully for cleaning up our plastic parts.      
     Our team can produce between 100 to 200 parts per day. Having the flexibility to make parts when needed rather than having to wait to produce in runs as one would with injection molding allows us to keep our turn-around time down. We quote a lead time of 3 to 5 business days but most orders ship in under 24 hours.
     Once cut and deburred the parts are inspected by an FAA certified inspector and shleved in inventory. We house over 3,500 molds spanning aircraft from Cessna and Piper to Grumman and Cirrus and most planes in between. We make sure to keep our most popular parts in stock and ready to ship at a moments notice to keep our turn-around time minimal! From inventory the parts get boxed up and shipped around the country and the world. About a quarter of our orders are shipped internationally each day!

If you ever find yourself in northwest Oklahoma please stop by and see for yourself!

10% off
plastics orders!
Newsletter special!
Have broken plastics that need replaced? Get 10% off when you order in the next two weeks! 

TO ORDER: If online, type "HowItsMade" into the comments box after checkout. Code will not work in the coupon code box. We do check the comments and we will correct the order. 

OR Call us at 1-866-307-5263 to talk to a sales rep!
Offer Expires Offer expires 6/3/15 and cannot be combined with other discounts or offers.

The world's leader in aftermarket general aviation plastics