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Principals

Danny Mellough
President SYN-APS Corp.
BSEE –Stow College, Glasgow, Scotland
20 Years Management and Engineering
Co-founder Syn-Aps Corp.

Alan Hughes
Engineering Manager SYN-APS Corp.
BSME – City & Guilds Institute of London, England
40 Years Engineering Design Application and Management
Author of Three U.S. Patents for Innovative Mechanisms

SYN-APS Milestones

1980	Company formed under the leadership of L. J. Arnold. Primary function was to provide engineering consulting for small to mid size manufacturing organizations. Contracted to design and implement a C.N.C. technician-training program for Smith Tool Inc. Designed and installed control retrofits on numerous in-house machine tools as part of this program.
1981	Commenced development of D.N.C. product, designed to perform with all major control systems. Successful implementation of D.N.C. on Allen-Bradley, Fanuc, Okuma and McDonnell Douglas Actrion controls.
1983	Awarded contract to rebuild large Vertical Turning Lathes using General Numeric 6T control systems by Votaw Precision Tool, Santa Fe Springs, CA. Design and build custom, high precision grinding machines in conjunction with Dayton & Bakewell to be used in the manufacturing of computer disks.
1984	Rebuild Giddings & Lewis Variax-5X, 5 axis milling machine using General Numeric 11MA C.N.C. system. First installation using Allen-Bradley 8200 C.N.C. used on imported Swiss made, multi-spindle 5 axis milling machines. Displayed first machine at Westec Machine Tool Show in Los Angeles.
1986	First installation of new Allen-Bradley 8400 C.N.C. Modify a Betts VTL using C.N.C and P.L.C. based systems. Machine customized to be used on modification rework of Space Shuttle Solid Booster Casings. Retrofit first Allen-Bradley 8600 to be used on the West Coast on a Jones & Lamson lathe.
1987	Won contract to design and build 6 custom multi axis C.N.C. Drilling Machines. Equipment was custom designed for use on Titan - Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade program.
1989	Designed and built custom 16 ft. capacity “hybrid” VTL for Keystone Engineering, Los Angeles, CA. Customer could not find a machine to buy with capacity required. Syn-Aps proposed custom VTL made from combination of a Betts VTL and a Cincinnati Hypro column to achieve height and diameter requirement.
1990	Awarded first contract for Northrop Aircraft to retrofit a Trumpf Router. Installed Allen-Bradley 8200 C.N.C and drives to make compatible with newer machine.
1991	Began rebuild program of large 5 axis, 3 spindle Gantry Profilers. Working with Northrop's rebuild crew, installed new axis drives, intelligent spindle drives, Allen-Bradley P.L.C. and PanelView operator interface.
1992	First system installation on the west coast of newly released Allen-Bradley 9/230 control system, used on a 3 spindle 5 axis milling machine.
1993	Designed and built control system and software for a P.L.C. based motion control system as used on a 2 spindle, 20’ X 6” capacity gun drill machine. Machine was built in conjunction with Unisia Co., Chicago and was subsequently installed at G.E. Nuclear, Wilmington N.C.
1994	Awarded contract to rebuild Drivematic C.N.C. Riveter / positioners for Northrop Aircraft. System included Allen Bradley 9/260 C.N.C., SLC500 and drives. Utilized ultrasonic sensors for automatic leveling of positioner and video Camera Tracing for part tracking capability. Rebuild large Hannifin stretch press.
1995	Awarded contract, in partnership with Aerospace Precision Systems (A.P.S.) to design, build and install a C.N.C based motion control system at NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, La. The system was installed on the Vertical Intertank Riveter, which performs drilling and riveting operations on the Space Shuttle External Fuel Tank. Utilized Allen-Bradley 9/260, digital axis drives, machine vision and PLC-5 employing distributed I/O capability. Custom software created for the use of machine vision system includes routines for axis synchronization and alignment based upon actual target acquisition.
1996	Working in conjunction with Northrop Grumman, began development of a “Test Bed” Riveting system to meet their customer’s closer tolerance requirement. In addition to Basic control system developed in 1994, Machine vision was added with custom routines one of which adjusts part programs in process based upon actual part orientation. The end result is a 5 axis fully programmable Automated Riveting System. Developed a control system for their new 6-axis Gantry Riveting system.
1997	Based on the success of the test bed we were awarded a contract for a new complete riveting system. This required the design and build of an aircraft skin positioning system with 30 ft. by 10 ft travels and (7) servo-controlled axis of movement. Designed and implemented C.N.C Control riveting system for Daewoo, Korea. System included (9) axis of servo control.
1998	Headed up major project to relocate Northrop Grumman’s commercial aircraft skin assembly equipment to new location in Hawthorne, Ca. This included engineering and installing new precision rail way system for six 70-foot long CNC riveting systems. Additionally procured and integrated Automatic Feed Systems to sort and deliver rivets to these machines automatically.
1999	Built, tested and delivered over 50 automation cells for wheel manufacturing. Performed complete rebuild on large Marwin 3 spindle Spar Milling machine. This project included the installation of three 50H.P. 15,000 R.P.M. spindles and all new linear ways allowing customer to upgrade cutting federates from 50 I.P.M. to 250 I.P.M.
2000	Designed and installed retrofit package for Train Wheel boring mills, one in Southern California and one in Kansas City, Mo. This system incorporated automatic axle measurement with wheels being bored to suit and automatic wheel loading and unloading. Designed and built servo controlled hoist system used in the automated spraying of the interior surfaces on rocket motors. This mechanism is capable of 60’ of travel and utilized a high-speed rotary disc media applicator. Designed automated aircraft fuselage skin riveting system. System incorporated 48 CNC axes.
2001	Designed and built automation cells to deliver, clean and inspect cell phone lens components for a high-speed production line. Once completed this system processed a part every 3.5 seconds and included robotic handling and automated machine vision.
2002	Designed Knee Type drill and riveting machine. Machine incorporated PLC controlled proportional hydraulic servo control.
2003	This year saw a natural progression of the utilization of our collective talents with the successful completion of projects for the medical industry. These included the design and build of an automated vial sorting and counting system.
2004	Retrofitted, rebuilt and installed Train Wheel boring mill for customer in Texas. This system incorporated automatic axle measurement with wheels being bored to match axle. Retrofitted automated axle gage system with new gage heads and control system. Entered the movie film industry with the development of an upgrade system for existing 35mm Ultrasonic film splicer. Designed a Dual Ram system for an existing aircraft riveting machine.
2005	Furthered our involvement with the movie film industry with the development of a new 35mm Ultrasonic film splicer to supply needs for a world wide customer base. This progressed to us designing an automatic system with load/unload and splice to feed a continuous film processing system. After the design phase received contract to build and integrate the system. Designed and built (4) axis CNC upgrade and retrofit of a Railway Truck Axle machining lathe.

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