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Smart Tooling provides formable, re-usable composite tooling solutions for manufacturing composite parts with complex geometries for the aerospace and defense industries. Today we’ll be demonstrating the fabrication of a co-cured wing utilizing 3 smart tools combined with dry carbon fiber sleeving, carbon fiber broad goods, and resin transfer molding of industrial grade epoxy resin. The mold and smart tool must …

Spintech Holdings has now been in our new headquarters for nearly three years and we have added significantly to our talent, capabilities and overall efficiency. Please take a look at our updated facility tour showing off some our newest additions that enhance our ability to ensure the success of complex composite parts through our Smart Tooling division.   Automated Fabric …

11/1/2020 – Updated 7/21/2023 (Dayton – OH) Smart Tooling, the Dayton-based manufacturer of complex geometry composite tooling solutions, was awarded a structural inlet duct manufacturing contract from Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. to provide twelve inlet ducts for the XQ-58A Valkyrie platform. The twelve structural inlet ducts will be made by Smart Tooling’s sister division, Hawthorn Composites, using Smart …

SMART TOOL CAULS CASE STUDY Manufacture of high performance, carbon fiber, reinforced epoxy components with tight radii, included corners has been a long standing manufacturing challenge faced by the aerospace industry. The primary difficulty associated with manufacture of these components is in the initial lay-up of the carbon/epoxy prepreg material into the tight corners. Both manual operators and automated layup …

03/16/2022 (Miamisburg, OH) Spintech Holdings, Inc. has moved into a new 34,000 sq ft. facility located in Miamisburg, Ohio. Previously located in a 19,500 sq. ft. facility in Xenia, Ohio, this move marks one year since the launch of their new composite parts manufacturing division, Hawthorn Composites, and enables further expansion of its two primary divisions, Smart Tooling & Hawthorn …

PROBLEM – How to fabricate a flight quality co-cured I-Beam composite structure in an environment that enables high volume manufacturing OPPORTUNITY – Generate a viable solution that will produce a high quality composite with an accelerated curing cycle using Smart Tools that act as bladders during cure. SOLUTION – A PLC controlled, self-heating, and self-pressurizing cure mold was combined with …

02/08/2021 (Xenia, OH) Spintech Holdings, Inc. has been awarded two United States Air Force Research Laboratory STTR Program contracts with partners the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI), Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, and a Leading electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) OEM as part of AFWERX’s Agility Prime Initiative. The first contract with UDRI and a leading eVTOL …

PROBLEM – Fabricate a 52” long by 12” dia. inlet duct using a clean tooling solution with the lowest up front capital cost and equal or better composite part cost. OPPORTUNITY – Deliver a mandrel solution that requires lower up front cost than a multi-piece metal mandrel and can be deployed with both prepreg and dry carbon fiber with resin …

Previous Process The baseline process was to lay-up this aerospace grade, Y-shaped vent tube in two halves into the female cavity of the cure mold that were joined for cure. This frequently resulted in the laminate being pinched and uneven. It also forced the lap joints to be staggered over the same area, resulting in a thicker composite part with …

Watch a demonstration of a Smart Tool used to create a co-cured reinforced skin panel. Because Smart Tools are rigid at layup, but elastic for extraction, material can be laid up directly onto the Smart Tool, and can be demolded from trapped geometry parts. Smart Tooling provides formable, reusable composite tooling solutions for manufacturing composite parts with complex geometries for …