Shaping Aerospace Innovation with Gantry Milling Machines
Gantry Milling Machines for Aerospace
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Custom Milling Solutions for Aerospace | Precision and Reliability at the Highest Level
In the aerospace industry, components demand the utmost precision: minimal tolerances, complex geometries, and a diverse mix of materials such as aluminum, titanium, CFRP, and other high-performance composites pose extreme challenges for manufacturing processes. To meet these requirements, specialized gantry milling machines for aerospace are indispensable.
We don’t just develop high-precision gantry milling machines, we also provide clamping systems tailored to your specific components. From hard tooling for dedicated parts to universal multi-tool clamping solutions, we ensure maximum repeatability, stability, and efficiency in your production.
Our solutions cover the entire manufacturing process: high-performance machining of aluminum and titanium, processing of CFRP and other composite materials, and hybrid methods combining milling with abrasive waterjet or laser cutting. As a provider of turnkey solutions, we deliver everything from planning and machinery to seamless integration into your existing production lines.
With our gantry milling machines for aerospace, manufacturers achieve the precision, flexibility, and reliability required for producing critical aerospace components today.
ACTION!
This is how high-precision aerospace components are produced with FOOKE’s gantry milling machines for the aerospace industry.
Successful Applications and References in the Aerospace Industry
With our milling machines for the aerospace industry, we deliver customized solutions that meet the highest standards of precision, quality, and efficiency in aircraft manufacturing.
50% WEIGHT REDUCTION of a 10 x 2 m fuselage section
Out skin machining | FUSELAGE
Reducing weight, increasing productivity, lowering costs — these are the key challenges of the aerospace industry. FOOKE understands your processes in detail and delivers solutions that achieve these goals in measurable ways.
With our high-precision mechanical milling technology, we replace conventional chemical processes and enable weight reductions of up to 50% on aircraft outer skins. At the same time, our turnkey solutions boost productivity by up to 35%, shorten production times, and make your manufacturing processes more sustainable.
Our expertise helps OEMs and suppliers optimize workflows, reduce costs, and produce lighter, more efficient aircraft — without compromising on quality or precision.
Experience how FOOKE takes your manufacturing to the next level.
Spherically shaped, highly complex CFRP components
AIRCRAFT | WING FLAPS
For 5-axis machining, drilling, and edge processing of CFRP components, our customer relies on the FOOKE ENDURA® 611LINEAR gantry milling machine. It is equipped with a fully enclosed housing for noise protection and video monitoring that covers the entire work area.
Your benefits at a glance:
- Precise 5-axis machining for complex CFRP components
- Efficient process management with full visibility of the work area
- Safe and low-noise operation thanks to the enclosed machining area
What our customer says:
"FOOKE has exceptionally qualified specialists who develop highly economical solutions and implement them on time and accurately. I rarely experience anything like this."
– Hans-Jochen Platte, Production Manager, GKN
FOOKE delivers tailored solutions that combine precision, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness for the aerospace industry.
Do you machine beams and crossbeams horizontally?
Beams | Crossbeams
For high-precision machining of large structural components such as beams and crossbeams, FOOKE relies on the ENDURA® 715LINEAR gantry milling machine. In a single setup, all machining steps – from roughing to underside processing – are completed.
Your benefits at a glance:
- Complete machining in one setup: No multiple re-clamping operations, maximum precision
- Short setup times: Efficient clamping concept with the MakroGrip system
- Highest dimensional accuracy: Roughing, finishing, and underside machining in one process
The result: Significantly reduced machining times, stable processes, and reproducible quality for complex CFRP and aluminum structures.
FOOKE delivers manufacturing solutions that combine precision, efficiency, and process reliability – for the most advanced aerospace structures.
Certified Precision
Wing Components | Aircraft Wing
For the certification of component machining on a wing section of the Dornier Eco 328, FOOKE developed a high-precision manufacturing solution to ensure maximum quality and process reliability. The component – one-third of the lower wing half – was produced from AL7475 according to Dornier standards and machined with the highest dimensional accuracy.
Your benefits at a glance:
- Certified precision: Compliance with all Dornier specifications and aerospace standards
- Significant weight reduction: From 220 kg raw part to 15 kg finished component
- Short throughput times: Complete machining in just 2 hours 17 minutes
- Process reliability: CAM programming with Tebis and control via Heidenhain TNC 640
The result: A fully validated manufacturing process that meets the highest quality requirements and lays the foundation for series production.
FOOKE delivers solutions that perfectly combine precision and productivity, enabling sustainable and future-proof aerospace manufacturing.
50% Reduction in Machining Time
Helicopter Component | Base Plate
To optimize the manufacturing of helicopter base plates made of aluminum, our customer relies on the FOOKE ENDURA® 715LINEAR gantry milling machine.
Through close, collaborative partnership and innovative manufacturing strategies, we were able to reduce machining time by 50%.
The combination of highest precision and efficient 5-sided machining ensures:
- Significant process optimization
- Future-proof manufacturing solution
- Stable processes and reproducible quality, even for safety-critical applications
FOOKE delivers technologies that combine maximum efficiency and precision for the aerospace and defense industries.
Maximized Material Removal for Aerospace Components
large aluminum structural components
In the aerospace industry, precision determines the success or failure of a mission. FOOKE provides solutions specifically designed for machining large-format aluminum structural components, delivering maximum efficiency, process reliability, and surface quality.
Our powerful gantry milling machines enable high-volume material removal even on extremely large workpieces. Thanks to high removal rates and dynamically rigid machine structures, up to 90% of the raw part can be machined efficiently, maintaining maximum dimensional accuracy and minimal machining time.
Through seamless finishing, we achieve uniform, high-quality surfaces without detectable transitions, a crucial requirement for the demanding surface standards in aerospace.
Integrated metrology allows direct in-machine quality control. Component deviations are captured and evaluated in real time, ensuring process stability and precision at all times.
The result:
An optimized, end-to-end manufacturing process that saves material, time, and costs while delivering the quality demanded by the aerospace industry.
High-Efficiency CFRP Processing
Helicopter Components | Cockpit Doors
The FOOKE ENDURA® 907LINEAR gantry milling machine produces CFRP components and machines helicopter canopies as well as A350 XWB cockpit doors with the highest precision.
Our solution for the aerospace industry offers:
- Versatile machining: Milling, drilling, and thread cutting of CFRP, GFRP, aluminum, and titanium
- Short setup times: Automatic lift door, custom clamping fixtures, and pallet change system
- Maximum flexibility: Adaptable machine tables for different components
With the ENDURA® 907LINEAR, efficient CNC machining starts with the right machine: precision, flexibility, and speed combined in a single system.
Experience how FOOKE takes your manufacturing to the next level.
Clamp, Align, and Drill in One Machine
Fuselage Drilling | Vertical Tail
FOOKE sets new standards in the machining of titanium bushings in the vertical stabilizer. With our drilling station and integrated clamping system, we perform fuselage drilling as well as drilling and spindling of the vertical stabilizer in a single system. Efficiently, precisely, and reliably.
Your benefits at a glance:
- Efficient process integration: Clamping, aligning, and drilling in one system
- Maximum flexibility: Vertical and horizontal machining possible
Highest precision: Integrated quality control including measurement and QA inspection
We deliver optimized manufacturing solutions that meet even the most demanding requirements of the aerospace industry.
Questions
about our aerospace milling machines?
Our sales team consists of experienced aerospace experts with over 20 years of industry experience. We provide competent, personalized, and practical advice – from selecting the right milling machine to complete turnkey solutions.
Contact us by email or phone. We will answer your questions as quickly as possible and look forward to speaking with you.
Phone: +49 (0) 2861 / 8009 - 222
Email: sales@fooke.de
Aerospace Milling Machines | Trusted by Industry Leaders
AIRBUS │ AIRBUS HELICOPTERS │ ALBANY | BOEING | BEYOND GRAVITY | COMAC | GKN AEROSPACE | FOKKER │ HARBIN AIRCRAFT │ HIZE AERO │ LO-CAT SYSTEMS │ NORTHROP GRUMMAN | PILATUS AIRCRAFT │ PREMIUM AEROTEC │ SPACE X | VAST SPACE | …
Precision from a Single Source for Aerospace Applications
FOOKE TURNKEY SOLUTION
FOOKE Turnkey Solutions provide more than machines: they deliver seamless processes, ensuring precision, efficiency, and quality throughout aerospace production.
Process Optimization & Development
Our experts develop tailored strategies and programs to guarantee precision and efficiency in every process.
Machinery & Technology Concepts
From milling to friction stir welding or waterjet cutting, we tailor each machine to your exact specifications. FEM-optimized structures, precise tooling, and integrated extraction systems guarantee stability, cleanliness, and process security at the highest level.
Component Handling
From material storage and palletizing to smart control, FOOKE automates your workflows for seamless material flow and faster production cycles.
Measurement Technology
Integrated metrology systems precisely detect part deviations and positions, delivering critical data for quality control.
Clamping Technology
Our tailored and flexible clamping solutions, from manual to fully automated, guarantee process stability and unmatched repeatability.
Demo & Technology Center
At our technology center, we carry out pre-tests and studies to deliver validated results and ensure confident planning from the start.
Process Integration & Monitoring
From implementation to monitoring, we document every process to guarantee transparency and reliability in your production.
Production Management
From foundation layout to airflow and noise control, we design your production environment comprehensively, ensuring the perfect base for efficient manufacturing.
YOUR BENEFIT
With FOOKE, experience a complete solution that unites technology, process, and infrastructure.
Efficient. Precise. Sustainable.
Achieving Precision Without Delamination
CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic)
When machining CFRP and GFRP, FOOKE’s gantry milling machines for aerospace deliver exceptional precision across all operations. Wether trimming, drilling, milling composite materials, or manufacturing complex structural components for aircraft. Our machines are designed to maintain tight tolerances and ensure surface integrity, even on large-format and geometrically intricate parts.
In addition to high-precision machining, safety and process reliability are top priorities. FOOKE has developed intelligent dust extraction solutions: particulate matter is removed directly at the milling head or through an efficient room air extraction system. This ensures a clean, safe, and controlled production environment, reducing contamination risks and protecting both operators and sensitive components.
Our gantry milling machines for aerospace combine rigid, FEM-optimized structures, precise motion control, and advanced spindle technology to enable high material removal rates without compromising accuracy. Integrated process monitoring and metrology systems continuously capture component deviations, allowing real-time quality control and ensuring maximum repeatability and reliability across every batch.
This holistic approach guarantees a reliable, high-precision milling process that meets the stringent standards of the aerospace industry, from prototypes to full-scale production. By integrating cutting-edge machinery, optimized tooling, and intelligent process management, FOOKE provides aerospace manufacturers with a solution that balances precision, productivity, and safety, ensuring that every CFRP and GFRP component is produced to the exacting specifications required in modern aircraft structures.
Achieving Accuracy with High Dynamics and Complex Geometries.
Aerospace Aluminum Processing
FOOKE’s 5-axis gantry milling machines for aerospace are engineered to handle both large-format components and complex geometries, providing maximum flexibility and efficiency throughout the production process. We optimize feed rates, spindle speeds, and cutting strategies, select the ideal cutting tools, and implement advanced chip management systems to ensure clean operations, protect workpiece surfaces, and maintain a stable machining environment.
This approach allows manufacturers to produce aluminum components that are precise, cost-effective, and fully compliant with aerospace standards, reducing material waste and minimizing cycle times. Our gantry milling machines are particularly suited for aircraft structural elements, fuselage sections, and outer skin segments, where every micrometer counts.
By combining high-performance gantry milling machines for aerospace with tailored tooling and process optimization, FOOKE ensures repeatable processes, reliable quality, and efficient workflows, even for the largest and most intricate aluminum parts. Every component meets the stringent requirements of the aerospace industry, providing both precision and productivity.
Mastering Precision Under High Strength.
Titan Aerospace Components
Titanium is exceptionally strong and simultaneously challenging to machine, requiring both stability and accuracy to achieve the highest quality results.
FOOKE’s gantry milling machines for aerospace are specifically designed to meet these challenges. They provide the necessary rigidity to handle high cutting forces while maintaining minimal tolerances, ensuring that even the most intricate titanium components are machined precisely. Our thermally optimized and vibration-damped milling concepts reduce tool wear and enhance process reliability, enabling repeatable and reproducible results for complex parts.
These gantry milling machines for aerospace combine high-performance spindle systems, FEM-optimized structures, and advanced motion control to achieve consistent precision even under the demanding conditions of titanium machining. Integrated process monitoring allows deviations to be captured in real time, ensuring that every component meets strict aerospace standards.
FOOKE’s solutions are perfectly suited for demanding structural components in the aerospace industry, from fuselage reinforcements to wing and landing gear elements. By merging machine stability, thermal management, and optimized process strategies, FOOKE enables manufacturers to produce titanium components with exceptional accuracy, efficiency, and reliability, fulfilling the rigorous requirements of modern aircraft production.
Precision in Action – Aerospace Milling Solutions
Flip through our examples to see high-tech milling solutions for intricate aerospace components.
Aluminum Aerospace Profiles
Machining on the ENDURA® 1100LINEAR Gantry Milling Machine
The ENDURA® 1100LINEAR is designed for high-precision milling of aluminum profiles for the aerospace industry. Its lateral machine construction and linear direct-drive axes enable dynamic yet highly accurate machining, even for large or thin-walled extruded profiles.
Precision Clamping for Complex Profiles
Aluminum profiles are securely held and precisely aligned using a specially developed clamping device with a three-jaw chuck. This ensures repeatable, accurate machining of complex cross-sectional geometries, as required in aerospace applications.
Key Benefits:
- Exceptional precision for thin-walled and large-volume profiles
- Dynamic machining with linear direct-drive axes
- Secure clamping with three-jaw chuck for repeatable results
- Ideal for complex aluminum cross-sections in aerospace manufacturing
CFRP, GFRP, Aluminum, and Titanium Components
Machining on the ENDURA® 907LINEAR Gantry Milling Machine
The ENDURA® 907LINEAR is engineered for high-precision milling, drilling, and threading of components made from CFRP, GFRP, aluminum, and titanium. Thanks to its gantry-style construction and linear direct-drive axes, the machine delivers exceptional machining accuracy and repeatable positioning, even when handling complex geometries commonly found in aerospace parts.
Whether you are producing lightweight composite structures or high-strength metal components, the ENDURA® 907LINEAR ensures consistent quality, precise tolerances, and reliable performance for every part.
Sheet Thickness Measurement
Using Ultrasonic Probes
For high-precision milling of aircraft skin panels, an ultrasonic probe is used to measure the actual sheet thickness contact-free and in real time. This highly accurate measurement method allows the milling depth to be precisely adjusted according to local material tolerances, ensuring that the skin panels consistently meet required thickness specifications, weight limits, and structural quality standards demanded by the aerospace industry.
CFRP Components
Machining on the ENDURA® 907LINEAR Gantry Milling Machine
For components made from carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP), the ENDURA® 907LINEAR offers specialized machining capabilities, including milling, drilling, routing, cutting, and sawing. Its gantry-style construction, linear direct-drive axes, and automatic workpiece handling ensure high precision, repeatable accuracy, and maximum efficiency, even when processing sensitive composite materials.
3D Surface Milling
Thin-Walled Aluminum Aircraft Skin Panels
For high-precision machining of thin-walled aluminum aircraft skin panels, 3D surface milling is employed. This technique allows for the accurate replication of complex surface geometries while minimizing material usage.
By leveraging advanced milling technologies, highly precise machine controls, and customized clamping and measurement systems, the required tolerances, surface finishes, and structural strength demanded by the aerospace industry are consistently achieved.
Stringer Profile
for the Sukhoi Superjet 100
This component serves as a fuselage stringer in the primary structure of the Sukhoi Superjet 100. The stringer profiles are installed along the fuselage sections to provide longitudinal reinforcement of the fuselage skin. Due to their specific geometry and material design, the stringers contribute significantly to the structural strength, load distribution, and torsional rigidity of the aircraft fuselage.
The stringer profiles are machined with high precision on our ENDURA® 1000LINEAR long-bed milling machine, ensuring that the tolerances and surface quality requirements of the aerospace industry are consistently met.
Horizontal Tailplane Wings
and Other Components for Airbus Aircraft
The horizontal tailplane wings (HTP), along with various other components, are manufactured for all Airbus aircraft types. These parts are key structural elements of the aircraft, contributing significantly to flight stability, load distribution, and aerodynamics.
All components are machined on our high-precision FOOKE milling machines. By utilizing state-of-the-art milling technologies, fixtures, and clamping systems, we ensure repeatable, accurate production that meets the strict requirements of the aerospace industry.
Aluminum Profiles
Machining on the ENDURA® 1005LINEAR Gantry Milling Machine
The ENDURA® 1005LINEAR is designed for high-precision machining of aluminum profiles. It features a multi-flexible clamping system that can be adjusted in all axes, allowing for exact alignment of the profiles.
The combination of gantry-style construction, linear direct-drive axes, and flexible clamping technology ensures high machining accuracy, repeatable precision, and efficient production, even for complex profile geometries.
Composite Profiles
Machining on the ENDURA® 609LINEAR Gantry Milling Machine
The ENDURA® 609LINEAR is designed for high-precision machining of composite profiles. Its gantry-style construction and linear direct-drive axes ensure exceptional machining accuracy, repeatable precision, and safe handling of sensitive materials.
Highly Complex Spherically Shaped Components and Structural Parts
Machining on the ENDURA® 611LINEAR Gantry Milling Machine
The ENDURA® 611LINEAR is designed for high-precision machining of highly complex spherically shaped components and structural parts made from aluminum, carbon fiber (CFRP), and GLARE.
It enables the milling of large aluminum fuselage segments with dimensions of up to 551 x 46 x 31 in.. The combination of gantry-style construction, linear direct-drive axes, and precise clamping technology ensures exceptional machining accuracy, repeatable precision, and efficient production, even for highly complex geometries.