Inspection tool set to userp CMMs

Cost-effective and efficient component measuring has, and always will be essential to efficient production.

Cost-effective and efficient component measuring has, and always will be essential to efficient production.

But as manufacturing industry continues its quest for reduced cost in every department, coupled with the increasing need for multifunctional personnel - to address the skills shortage as well as to harness the benefits of employee empowerment - the use of expensive, highly sophisticated and time-consuming workpiece inspection equipment/routines is coming under the microscope.

According to Jonathan Tate, Metrology Manager at control and inspection specialist ACI Europe: "The co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) is in many ways being challenged", he says, "not solely because in repetitive inspection environments such machines are very expensive to buy and operate (in terms of both personnel and cycle times), but also because simple 'go/no-go' tolerance checks are still perfectly adequate for a whole host of components".

"For many people, this is very much a case of deja vu; in a lot of cases, the return of traditional 'go/no-go' gauging to replace the all-singing, all-dancing CMMs that have been the vogue for some years".

"Sure, the CMM is indispensable for very complex one-off and invariably large workpieces".

"But in addition to the initial expense of a CMM, and the high cost of training an operator(s) in its use, a far lower cost - and much simpler to use - alternative is available in many cases where repetitive multi-gauge inspection of relatively simple parts, often families of parts, are required".

In such applications, he suggests, devices like the Metronics Gage-Chek digital readout system with a full set of mathematical expressions, allows complex parts to be measured.

Programmable input/output as well as programmable relay output, can maximise inspection efficiency by providing instant feedback when dimensions are out of tolerance.

Initially targeted at production departments, system integrators and probe manufacturers, and applications across the manufacturing spectrum, Gage-Chek can accommodate up to eight encoder or LVDT/half-bridge inputs - including length gauges, and linear and rotary encoders, as well as a wide range of measuring instruments - and is able to measure up to 16 dimensions per part.

The system's versatile go/no go display combines familiar DRO functionality with colour graphics and audio alerts to provide fast and accurate measurement feedback, and its ruggedness and ease of use makes it ideal for shop-floor application.

"The device does not compete with neither single gauging nor multiple 16-/32-channel applications", continues Tate.

"However, it is ideally suited to tasks such as cell-type manufacturing where the machine operator is also responsible for his own inspection and where the need is to inspect all/sample parts for both quality control and process feedback and correction purposes".

"This type of system is already in use by a major automotive manufacturer in the UK".

"Gage-Chek is simple to operate and, equally important, it is easy to program and re-program to suit workpiece variation, and can hold up to 100 different parts".

"This has to be appealing to shop-floor operators now that the quality function is increasingly falling within the remit of production".

Gage-Chek inputs can be algebraically and mathematically combined for dimensions such as thickness, flatness, dwell angles and maximum tip heights, for example, and results can be displayed numerically, graphically or archived for process studies such as simple statistical process control (ie x-bar and range charts).

The addition of events and variables allows complex functions to be evaluated by Gage-Chek.

The devices' DRO mode also provides icons indicating process study has been performed, complete with in/out-of-tolerance alert.

It also contains many other features such as dynamic max and dynamic min, in real-time if using digital inputs and triggering of data logging from a second channel criteria.

Other features for the LVDT/half-bridge market are the ability to rest recalibration times and a check on limits of change for recalibration of LVDTs.

In addition, a serial link to a PC for long-term storage and analysis of data is available and also allows transfer of parts and settings to a PC.

"Effectively, the device complements traditional 'go/no-go' gauging with the added flexibility of multiple workpiece inspection as well as statistical process control, when required".

"Today, quality is increasingly being viewed as an overhead - a hindrance to sales", concludes Tate.

"Gage-Chek is designed to minimise that overhead by both deskilling the inspection function and by simplifying the job to make it faster than ever".

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