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News Release from: LK | Subject: CAMIO software
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 07 September 2000
Giant CMM for Airbus work gets software
upgrade
An LK co-ordinate measuring machine with 7m long table has since the mid 1990s carried out 100 per cent inspection of aluminium wing spars for all Airbus variants at BAe Systems, Broughton
An LK co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) with an extra long table measuring seven metres in the X axis has since the mid 1990s carried out 100 per cent inspection of aluminium wing spars for all Airbus variants in the Major Components Centre at BAE SYSTEMS Airbus UK, Broughton Following a recent CMM upgrade with LK's CAMIO software, CAD models are now imported directly from a CADDS 5 computer-aided design system on site, more than halving the time taken to program the measuring machine
In the past, a drawing of the spar used to be supplied together with a set of about 250 X,Y,Z co-ordinates for the outside winding angle, a critical compound surface which needs to be held to a tolerance of +0.010" / -0.006".
Including other key features such as hole positions, rib post locations and wall thicknesses, a total of some 500 inspection points had to be laboriously keyed in by hand, which took on average four and a half weeks.
The new process involves downloading the solid model from the CAD system and saving it as a SAT file in CAMIO where it can be worked on directly to create the inspection program.
For the latest A340-600 Airbus, a 168 MB CAD file of a 10 metre by 1.6 metre inner front spar was converted on a PC in the Windows NT environment in 10 minutes.
It then took two weeks to generate the inspection program, representing a time saving of over 50 per cent compared with the manual method.
However, this was the first component which Mike Smith, Product Acceptance Controller at BAE SYSTEMS Airbus UK, had programmed in this way.
Time savings are expected to be considerably greater as the process becomes more familiar.
Another significant benefit, according to Mike Smith, is that programs from CAMIO are output in the latest industry-standard DMIS code, rather than in CMES as before.
The new measuring cycles are more efficient and have comprehensive crash detection with on-screen verification which allows the CMM to run at higher speeds during production inspection.
The combined effect is to cut measuring cycles by a third.
As 240 spars are inspected each month, the increase in machine availability is considerable.
The CAMIO / DMIS system is also more efficient for data management.
Reporting is fully computerised and automatic, enabling for example the straightforward creation of audit and statistical process control documentation.
A spin-off advantage of the new programming method is that in theory it can be performed off-line.
In practice, the CMM is tied up for just 5 per cent of the time to prove out and edit programs.
With the old manual method, about half the programming was performed on the machine, taking it out of service for more than two weeks every time a new spar design came along.
"We have had an exceptional level of support from LK, particularly in respect of operator training and early programming assistance," concludes Mike Smith.
"We took our first CAD model on CD to LK's Donington factory on one particular day and were still working on it at 7.30 pm, such was the level of commitment offered by the company.".
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