Keeping fighter jets mission-ready demands precision, efficiency, and speed — especially when it comes to critical components like aircraft wheels.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) faced a recurring challenge: lengthy turnaround times for non-destructive testing (NDT), including crack detection on aircraft wheels. Traditional chemical stripping methods slowed operations, increased labour demands, and introduced environmental risks.

The K Factor is a dimensionless number that characterises the honed edge shape of a cutting edge. Defined as:

- K = +1 Gives a  waterfall shaped hone - typically better for edge strength, tool life

- K = -1 Gives a trumpet shaped hone - sharper, but less durable

- K = 0 Gives symmetrical shaped hone

We hope you enjoyed your visit to Interwire this year. It was great to talk to everyone who visited. In case you didn’t get to see us, here’s a brief summary of our cleaning and finishing solution for wire and cable products.

Effective finishing is a critical part of the wire and cable production process — whether it’s improving coating adhesion, removing oxides, or controlling final appearance. Wet blasting has a number of key advantages over traditional finishing processes like dry blasting, mechanical brushing or chemical pickling…

The ever-popular Vapormate manual wet blasting machine is an excellent choice for finishing additive manufactured (AM) components, particularly for small to medium-sized parts or for operations seeking a compact, versatile, and cost-effective solution.

Key advantages for AM finishing:

✅ Compact design with generous capacity: Despite its small footprint (W735 x H1,664 x D810 mm), designed to fit through a standard doorframe, the Vapormate offers a spacious working area (W680 x H520 x D680 mm), accommodating most AM components except the very largest.