Height guages help automotive manufacturer

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 13, 2006

Motorised, automated height gauges help independent manufacturer of steering columns and associated components.

As Metrology and Inspection Group Leader, Tom Leab of NSK Steering Systems America oversees the operation of three NSK labs - metrology, inspection and metallurgy - at a time when business at the company's Bennington, Vermont, USA, facility is booming.

As one of the world's largest independent manufacturer of steering columns and associated components, NSK has names such as Ford, Toyota, Honda, Mazda and Mercedes among its customers.

To help, Leab bought three Digimar motorised, automated height gauges from Mahr Federal that can measure parts up to 100cm long.

"It was the added height I was looking for," he said.

"Because of the column length, a lot of things are measured in the vertical direction".

"It worked out well with that".

But the Digimar CX2 also provided a degree of speed and efficiency that facilitated the measurement process and helped keep up with demand in a rapidly growing production environment.

Q1, ISO 9000, and soon to be TS 16949 certified, the NSK lab complex is fully equipped and climate controlled.

The metrology lab handles 90% of the company's calibration needs and 65% of gauge repair, and serves as a gauge crib, dispensing and tracking micrometers, calipers, depth gauges, dial indicators and more.

A metallurgy lab verifies weld penetration on critical column components; a prototype lab handles developmental work; and the inspection lab handles incoming part and final part inspection.

It was primarily to facilitate final part inspection that Leab purchased the height gauges.

"We have three CMMs for final inspection," he said, "and they were running 24 hours a day".

"So we had an issue with piece part inspections".

"We had to wait to get time to go on the CMMs, and since the largest was only a 61cm, we ended up using precision V blocks and things of that nature just to raise it up".

"We just didn't have the height".

He bought two Digimar CX2s and mounted them on a 152 by 305 by 51cm thick granite surface plate in the inspection room.

"Two people can use them simultaneously and it saves a lot of time," he said.

He also bought one for the metrology lab, where it supplanted an older height gauge, and it was here that the gauge's facility and ease of use first became apparent.

The older gauge, he said, was "just difficult".

"It seemed to us that if you didn't use it four to five hours a day, continuously, you would forget how".

"It was just too difficult".

"It also had its good points, but it was lacking in the height".

"We didn't have the range".

But when he saw a demonstration of the Digimar CX2, he just, "fell in love with it".

"The computer touchpad just walks you through the measurements".

"Compared with the other gauge, it's just so much easier".

The Digimar CX2 is part of a family of motorised, programmable height measuring systems which offer a combination of features and performance previously available only in higher priced equipment.

The line is well suited for gauge lab and production measurement use.

All the height gauges have fully motorised measuring slides that reduce operator influence on part probing for better measurement precision and repeatability.

Key measuring functions can be executed with one press of a button; and readily programmable measuring routines make it possible to sample batches of mass produced parts quickly and easily.

Numerous measuring and evaluation functions include the measurement of planes, grooves, bores and shafts, and the calculation of distances and symmetries.

Maximum and minimum measurements are also supported, as are perpendicularity measurements with a digital dial indicator.

Canned routines for basic features and simple teach-and-learn techniques make it easy to program the CX2 for different measurement tasks.