Patent ID: 11858661
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A method of manufacturing a panel assembly, comprising:
supporting the panel assembly in a free state using a holding fixture in which the panel assembly has a geometric shape that is different than the geometric shape of the panel assembly in an as-designed nominal state, the panel assembly comprising a skin panel and sacrificial material coupled to a skin panel inner surface respectively at interface locations for coupling the panel assembly to mating structure;
acquiring a free state outer surface contour of the panel assembly by scanning a skin panel outer surface of the skin panel while the panel assembly is supported by the holding fixture;
developing a numerically controlled (NC) machining program having cutter paths configured for machining the interface locations to an inner surface contour that reflects nominal thicknesses of the panel assembly based off of the free state outer surface contour; and
machining the sacrificial material at the interface locations by moving a cutter along the cutter paths while the panel assembly is supported by the holding fixture, and while the cutter is backed by a backing device applying backing pressure against the skin panel outer surface while the backing device moves in a coordinated manner in alignment with the cutter as the cutter moves along the cutter paths on the opposite side of the skin panel.