Product category:
Form/co-ordinate, optical and vision instrumentation
News Release from: International Metrology Systems | Subject: Premier CMM
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 07 June 2004
Carbon-fibre CMM has edge on speed and
accuracy
The new Premier co-ordinate measuring machine from International Metrology Systems (IMS) has been hailed as a breakthrough in the CMM industry.
The new Premier co-ordinate measuring machine from International Metrology Systems (IMS) has been hailed as a breakthrough in the CMM industry The Premier was shown for the first time at MACH 2004 as a new concept in CMM build
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 8 Mar 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Using the latest carbon fibre materials for the entire bridge structure, IMS has created what it reckons is the latest and most technologically advanced CMM ever.
The Premier is the first CMM in the industry to boast an all-carbon-fibre bridge structure; the entire moving structure (bridge beam, y main carriage, y support leg and z column) is made from carbon fibre, which is a first of its kind for the CMM industry.
Carbon fibre is an ideal material for use in the metrology world.
In comparison with aluminium, carbon fibre composites have: over 14 times more tensile strength; 19 times lower thermal expansion; five times greater stiffness; and yet are nearly twice as light.
Carbon fibre has almost ten times greater stiffness to weight ratio than aluminium and significantly more than other materials.
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"IMS has over 12 years experience in the design and manufacture of carbon fibre components", said Dr Woosup Koh, President and CEO of IMS.
"From high performance aircraft to Formula 1, to world class racing yachts, carbon fibre is the material of choice when strength and speed are demanded".
"We have applied this expertise to the Premier and expanded the concept to include the entire moving structure".
"Coupled with Virtual DMIS software, Premier offers superior throughput at a dramatically improved price/performance ratio".
The first Premier was sold at MACH to Mitsubishi Motor Sports of Rugby, which competes in the World Rally Championship.
The Operations Manager Paul Webb said the company is looking forward to the arrival of its new machine and would put it through its paces.
Mitsubishi uses carbon fibre extensively on the rally car and as such knows the benefits of such a light yet stiff and strong material.
Webb said: "We use carbon fibre in most areas of the car and have successfully worked with it for many years to increase the performance of our cars".
"When we were looking for a new CMM, the Premier seemed the most technologically advance structure in the industry with the use of carbon fibre".
"With our knowledge of this material we knew it had a near zero coefficient rate of expansion, along with a very high stiffness to weight ratio, which seeming an ideal material for a CMM structure".
Mitsubishi Motor Sports purchased the machine with the award winning Virtual DMIS software allowing full CAD linking and reverse engineering.
Webb commented: "Perhaps someday all CMMs will be made of carbon fibre".
IMS has created a first in the CMM industry by using carbon fibre for the entire superstructure: this will revolutionise CMM design technology and change the CMM world forever.
In the past IMS was the first company to move CMM bridge technology to aluminium with the launch of the Impact; other CMM companies quickly followed this lead.
IMS is the first to use carbon fibre for the entire superstructure, but this material is not entirely new to the company, IMS has been using it to produce various parts for its CMMs for the last 12 years.
The Premier is billed as the world's fastest production CMM currently on the market with velocities over 1000mm/s.
As the structure is so light (nearly twice as light as aluminium) it can be accelerated and decelerated extremely quickly.
Coupled with "continuous axis motion", which reduces cycle times by up to 30% by smoothing the probe trajectory, this gives the Premier record breaking floor-to-floor measuring times.
Size for size, no other CMM has such a light superstructure; when moving at extremely high speeds less strain and stress is induced with the entire machine.
The Premier is not only the fastest CMM on the market but also gives the highest accuracy, stability and repeatability when moving at the highest speeds.
With nearly 50 different models to choose from, the Premier offers complete flexibility.
Premier is available with two controller options.
The Premier Matrix features the IMS 32bit On Motion controller including Rapid-Scan, for touch trigger operation.
The Premier Maxxum uses the Renishaw UCC series of controllers and supports continuous scanning (SP25/SP80/SP600).
An extensive range of measurement sizes are offered for up to 3000mm long with starting volumes from 1000 x 1000 x 800 to 1500 x 1500 x 800mm.
Accuracies are from 2.5 + L/250 for the standard machine, with different specifications on request and depending on size.
The Premier is also ideal for shop floor use with its near zero coefficient rates of expansion.
It can be used on the shop floor in a changing temperature environment with minimal inaccuracies being introduced.
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