We Nakashima Propeller Company set about the introduction of NC machines in 1973, and the propeller blades are machined by a group of NC machines, whereby it was made possible for such propellers as PAI propellers and HSP with remarkably complicated configurations to be machined in further stringent accordance with the propeller drawings with finer accuracies. Photo.4 shows the appearance of the CNC blade milling machine of 5-axis simultaneous control for large-sized propellers, where CAD/CAM systems specializing in propeller manufacture operated by PC automatically processing the propeller manufacturing drawings and NC machining data.

　

 The moulding models of propellers are usually wooden made. With us Nakashima Propeller Company, however, a new system has been introduced that the propeller models themselves are produced directly by the automatic moulding machine named SOUP (Solid Object Ultraviolet Laser Plotter). (see Photo.5) With this system, the propeller data designed by PC are sent to the SOUP. The solid data shall horizontally be sliced into a number of thin layers. The exterior appearance line of each sliced layer soaked in the chemical compound of photo-hardening polymer is hardened by the energy of ultraviolet laser beam operated one layer after one layer for being integrated to be the intended solid object.