...on which it could offload sheet-hydroforming of smaller airframe parts, saving its-large-bed fluid-cell presses for bigger parts. Aside from the cute tongue teaser, Piper's new small-footprint precisely controlled press is performing perfectly. Major aircraft manufacturers around the world have long relied on sheet-hydroforming presses - fluid-cell and rubber-pad styles - for economic production of low-volume parts. Rubber-pad forming in a hydraulic press took flight (so to speak) in the 1930s and '40s. In the 1950s and '60s came fluid-cell technology, which replaced the rubber-pad upper forming tool with a thin and flexible rubber fluid-filled diaphragm. Fluid-cell capabilities surpassed those of traditional rubber-pad forming, providing more consistent results with evenly applied pressure over every square inch of the part.
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