FSW is maturing from laboratory feasibility and simple straight butt joint applications into applications with joints on complex surfaces and along general paths in space. General Tool is developing, with EWI as a launch customer, a large machine that will be used to weld full size aluminum structures for armored vehicle chassis and other military vehicles on one end of the spectrum, and relatively delicate 3D aircraft structures on the other. While other large, high thrust machines exist, they have smaller depths of useful working volume, and are confined to welding in a plane that is perpendicular to the nominal spindle axis. The limited working volume in question stems from the relatively small reach of the plunge axis perpendicular to the large area covered by the machine The size of this new machine and the breadth of this range of application give rise to a number of interesting challenges.
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