PERFECT POINT EDM CORPORATION — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: J201-CSO1

Description

Perfect Point is an Electro Discharge Machining (EDM) technology and engineering services company that developed a patented EDM handheld tool to remove aircraft and engine fasteners at less than half the cost of traditional methods with a damage rate of less than 0.1%. Our tool, technology, and process vastly improve the way structural maintenance is performed in the 21st century by providing a better, faster, safer, more accurate, and environment-friendly, maintenance method for airframe structures and engines. The E-Drill Fastener Separation Technology (FST) enables exponential productivity improvements, drives first pass quality, reduces the cost of consumables, and protects workers. The Perfect Point E-Drill received the prestigious 2019 Aviation Week Laureate Award being named the Best New Product in the Defense Category.Traditional methods for removing fasteners are time consuming, strenuous, requires years of experience, often causes structural damage, and produces FOD. E-Drill simplifies the fastener removal process using a computer controlled EDM hand tool that removes hard-metal fasteners in seconds, reduces damage rates to less than one percent, eliminates FOD, all while substantially reducing both material and labor costs. Our ergonomic design uses minimal force, is quiet, and generates zero metal shaving FOD. E-drill provides a clean, safe, repeatable fastener removal process using an innovative application of EDM developed to yield exponential productivity improvements. State-of-art aircraft like the B-2, F-22, and F-35, are manufactured with composite structures which use titanium complex blind fasteners with a center pin. Removal of this type of fastener requires the precision and repeatability that the E-Drill provides.The tool dramatically reduces the time to remove fasteners by more than 50% and greatly reduces the opportunity for collateral damage to aircraft. The E-Drill is a mature Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) capability with a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) rating of 9.