AEDC completes project, saving money for Life Cycle Management Center

  • Published
  • By Deidre Ortiz
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  AEDC engineers successfully performed the reverse engineering of a TF34 50-10000 Quick Engine Change kit for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, saving the center thousands of dollars on the task.

This control and adaptor kit enables the A-10 Thunderbolt II/TF34-100 Turbofan Engine to test on the A/M 37T-20C Jet Engine Test Stand used during sea level testing by many Air Force installations.
Mark Bymaster, ATA Aeropropulsion Branch manager, stated that AEDC engineers were asked to perform the TF-34 reverse engineering following a TF-34 engine test in AEDC Sea Level 1 test cell.  

"While prepping for the test in SL-1, the team had a very difficult time locating test enabling hardware (the TF34 kit)," he said. "The good kits were few and far between and the Air Force was running out of these, which are the only means of running an engine outside of the aircraft.  Warner Robbins, the responsible organization for this hardware, asked us at AEDC if we could reverse engineer the kit since they were unable to locate the drawings and the original equipment manufacturer, Fairchild Aircraft, was long since out of business."

Jeff Dodd, ATA test engineer, added due to this and aging field test assets, AFLCMC leadership considered manufacturing new kit components.

"Because the database of existing TF43 QEC kit drawings did not contain sufficient information for fabrication, AEDC was tasked with reverse engineering an existing kit by disassembling the individual components and taking sufficient measurements to produce a drawing package that will be used for manufacturing kit components," Dodd said.

To enable greater accuracy and save time on hand measurements, a 3-D laser scanner was procured by AEDC engineers to obtain the needed dimensions of each kit component.

Dodd mentioned that ATA Lead Designer Jim Childers helped significantly in reducing the cost of the project.

"Childers carefully researched the existing Air Force drawing database and discovered several TF34 50-10000 QEC kit drawings could be redrawn with very little modification," he said.

By completing the disassembly process and measuring and reproducing the bill of material fabrication drawings, AFLCMC is able to contract for the production of new kits.

"Thanks to Jim and his team, he was able to locate and resurrect many drawings thought lost," Bymaster said. "Those not found were recreated. This is a huge success story in support of the A-10 program."
-AEDC-