A sub-team of 3 undergraduates was tasked to manufacture a fuselage for an avionics bay compartment. The stock part given was a rounded 7" diameter tube of aluminum 6061-T6 with a height of 15". The design consisted of radial holes used for mounting and electronic pass-through. For the project, I designed a template layout of radial mounting and electronic holes, designed a 3D print to reduce structural deformation during machining, and mill-machined radial holes once the template was printed. 

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A wire EDM machine was then used to split the stock into two half parts to be mounted onto the ICARUS rocket. 

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Due to budget constraints, the stock part was almost to size of the desired machined part. As a result, elliptical deformations in the aluminum tube led to complications when aligning the part to the chassis. Our solution was to create a paper template with the desired holes sized and distanced to scale. A punch tool was then used to create marks in the aluminum in accordance with the paper template to later be drilled.

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As a result, a majority of the mounting holes aligned with the rocket with minimal adjustment necessary. Only a few mounting holes were misaligned near the edges of the part due to the slightly deformed stock part.