Why aircraft parts are so expensivew.
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2024 12:22 pm
Long time lurker here. This forum is a great resources. During my readings I commonly come across comments alluding to the gratuitously high cost of aviation parts. After retiring from my career as a quant, I started building my Sonex. At the same time, a buddy who owns a tool & die shop, asked me to become his QC manager. Part of the deal was that I am able to use their shop to produce parts. We only produce a few parts for aviation. This is the story of one of the parts.
The part is a shim, .010 " thick, .307" in diameter with a .100 hole in the center out. The material specs call for 304 stainless, which must be DFARS compliant.
DFARS compliance requires the following: The material must come from specified countries, (Essentially NATO countries as well as Egypt, Isreal, Japan & Australia.) The material must also provide evidence of a continuous chain of control from the melt source. All this documentation has to be provided to the customer.
A minimum purchase is typically 50 pounds. 50 # of material will produce 15 to 20 YEARS worth of parts.
The material gauge is non-standard and difficult to find. The cost per pound of non-DFARS compliant material is $20.00. The cost per pound of DFARS compliant material ranges from $30.00 to $40.00 per pound. Post pressing, we send the parts out for passivation (like alodyne for SS for more about passivation https://www.besttechnologyinc.com/faq/w ... ssivation/) and florescent penetrant die testing. We also have to provide copies of the Bills of Lading to and from the Inspection lab, certs from the Inspection lab and copies of the testing results from the inspection lab. This is extremely expensive and quadruples our costs.
The part is a shim, .010 " thick, .307" in diameter with a .100 hole in the center out. The material specs call for 304 stainless, which must be DFARS compliant.
DFARS compliance requires the following: The material must come from specified countries, (Essentially NATO countries as well as Egypt, Isreal, Japan & Australia.) The material must also provide evidence of a continuous chain of control from the melt source. All this documentation has to be provided to the customer.
A minimum purchase is typically 50 pounds. 50 # of material will produce 15 to 20 YEARS worth of parts.
The material gauge is non-standard and difficult to find. The cost per pound of non-DFARS compliant material is $20.00. The cost per pound of DFARS compliant material ranges from $30.00 to $40.00 per pound. Post pressing, we send the parts out for passivation (like alodyne for SS for more about passivation https://www.besttechnologyinc.com/faq/w ... ssivation/) and florescent penetrant die testing. We also have to provide copies of the Bills of Lading to and from the Inspection lab, certs from the Inspection lab and copies of the testing results from the inspection lab. This is extremely expensive and quadruples our costs.