91ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ÎÛ

Published

Inspection System Brings Programmability to Shopfloor Gaging

Gaging device extends the reach of the CMM out to the production floor, and provides an alternative to dedicated gaging.

Peter Zelinski
Peter Zelinski
Editor-in-Chief, Additive Manufacturing

Share

Leaders-In background
CNC Engineering, Inc.
VISIT SHOWROOM

CNC Engineering, Inc.

CNC Engineering, Inc. specializes in enhancing CNC machine tools to boost manufacturing productivity. Our key services include: - CNC Retrofits a...READ MORE

Featured Content
View More
Featured Videos
View More
Heidenhain Corporation
VISIT SHOWROOM

Heidenhain Corporation

HEIDENHAIN is a world-leading provider of encoders, machine controls, touch probes, digital readouts and metrology solutions—empowering engineer...READ MORE

Featured Content
View More
Featured Videos
View More
ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions
VISIT SHOWROOM

ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions

Featured Content
View More
Featured Videos
View More
Mikron Corp.
VISIT SHOWROOM

Mikron Corp.

Mikron Machining is the leading partner for high performance machining systems to manufacture complex and precise metal components in high volumes....READ MORE

Featured Content
View More
Featured Videos
View More
T J Davies, Co., Inc.
VISIT SHOWROOM

T J Davies, Co., Inc.

Since 1965 we have been manufacturing precision metal products in the United States. We are a veteran-founded, woman-led business dedicated to mak...READ MORE

Featured Content
View More
All World Machinery Supply
VISIT SHOWROOM

All World Machinery Supply

All World Machinery Supply is your one-stop shop for machine tool solutions. Machine Tool Spare Parts | Repair Services | Custom Machine Tool Accesso...READ MORE

Featured Content
View More
Featured Videos
View More
QualiChem Inc.
VISIT SHOWROOM

QualiChem Inc.

Featured Content
View More
Featured Videos
View More
SMW Autoblok Corporation
VISIT SHOWROOM

SMW Autoblok Corporation

Featured Content
View More
Featured Videos
View More

In the machining process for a complex and valuable production part, the workpiece is often removed from a flexible, programmable CNC machine tool, only to be inspected using a custom gage that is not flexible or programmable at all. “Hard” gaging—meaning measurement devices on the production floor designed and built for specific parts—provides a way to quickly inspect a workpiece near the machine. Yet hard gaging can also be costly. For jet engine component maker Meyer Tool in Cincinnati, Ohio, designing, building and maintaining a hard gage could cost $20,000, according to quality manager Beau Easton. If a design change to the part necessitates a change to the gage, then this could add thousands of dollars more.

 
Renishaw, the metrology technology specialist with U.S. headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, recently introduced a new gaging system—not to mention a different idea in gaging—that is aimed at reducing these gaging-related costs. The company’s “Equator” system is built around a programmable, parallel kinematic measurement unit that rapidly compares a newly machined part to a reliable dimensional master. Meyer Tool is one of the earliest users of this approach to shopfloor inspection. By applying the Equator system within a newly developed work cell, the manufacturer avoided the need for at least four hard gages.
 
The Equator measurement device resembles a small coordinate measuring machine (CMM), in that it measures part features in three dimensions by touching them with a probe. The similarity ends there. The device not only fills a role in the process very different from that of a CMM, but it also relies on a CMM—because CMM inspection is likely to be the source of the Equator’s measurement traceability. Instead of promising to be accurate the way a CMM does, the Equator promises to be repeatable. This difference is important, because the key to accurate gaging with the Equator system is to begin with an accurately measured master component.
 
This master’s dimensions are established, one time, away from temperature variations and other shopfloor effects using an accurate measurement system such as a CMM in a temperature-controlled room. Then, so long as the master part is similar to the production part in terms of size and features, and also made of the same material, it can be trusted to serve as a reliable guide to the environmental-related changes of the actual part. For example, if the workpiece has expanded because of a hot day in the production area, the master will have expanded by the same proportion. “Zeroing” the Equator by measuring this master will therefore remove the workpiece’s thermal expansion as a factor affecting the measured accuracy of the part.
 
This zeroing is similar to the way a hard gage is zeroed. Periodically measuring the master corrects for any drift in the precision of the process. Meyer Tool keeps its own gaging process precise on the Equator by re-measuring the master every 3 hours. For either the master or a production part, this measurement cycle is fast, thanks in part to the device’s parallel kinematic structure. At Meyer Tool, measurement cycles take 2 to 6 minutes, depending on part complexity. Using a continuous-contact scanning probe (which Meyer does not do, but plans to) would let the Equator system capture thousands of data points per feature within cycles this brief.
 
Meyer Tool SPC manager Bridget Nolan says, “We are doing GD&T true positions, notches, hole diameters, profiles and runout” using the Equator system. The programs that are run in this shop use at least four different probe styli. A changing rack allows the unit to switch styli automatically.
 
Software for the system comes in two levels. Engineers use a programmable version to create inspection programs. In production, a streamlined version lets the operator easily select the right program to initiate inspection.
 
Changing between part numbers involves simply changing the fixture tile on the Equator device. Meyer Tool keeps various inspection setups ready on different tiles. Formerly, in place of this selection of tiles, the shop would have needed various individual hard gages for different parts. Now, parts with extremely different features can be measured on the same gage, just by swapping the setup in seconds, and quickly zeroing the gage with the appropriate master part.
 
MMS Leaders in CNC Machining

Related Content

Process Control — Leveraging Machine Shop Connectivity in Real Time
Data-Driven Manufacturing

Process Control — Leveraging Machine Shop Connectivity in Real Time

Renishaw Central, the company’s new end-to-end process control software, offers a new methodology for producing families of parts through actionable data.

Read More
Marathon Precision’s Engineering Playground: One Shop’s Secret to Sustaining High Tech, Low-Volume and High Morale
Measurement

Marathon Precision’s Engineering Playground: One Shop’s Secret to Sustaining High Tech, Low-Volume and High Morale

Half an airplane on the wall, a ten-foot metal dragon, and a full-blown recording studio might not scream “manufacturing efficiency,” yet Marathon Precision proves otherwise. Here’s how forging, complex CNC operations and staff-driven creative projects combine to fuel the shop’s productivity and profitability.

Read More
Orthopedic Event Discusses Manufacturing Strategies
Measurement

Orthopedic Event Discusses Manufacturing Strategies

At the seminar, representatives from multiple companies discussed strategies for making orthopedic devices accurately and efficiently.

Read More
6 Machine Shop Essentials to Stay Competitive
Inspection and Measurement

6 Machine Shop Essentials to Stay Competitive

If you want to streamline production and be competitive in the industry, you will need far more than a standard three-axis CNC mill or two-axis CNC lathe and a few measuring tools.

Read More

Read Next

Last Chance! 2025 Top Shops Benchmarking Survey Still Open Through April 30
Economics

Last Chance! 2025 Top Shops Benchmarking Survey Still Open Through April 30

Don’t miss out! 91ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ÎÛ's Top Shops Benchmarking Survey is still open — but not for long. This is your last chance to a receive free, customized benchmarking report that includes actionable feedback across several shopfloor and business metrics. 

Read More
AMRs Are Moving Into Manufacturing: Considerations for Implementation
Automation

AMRs Are Moving Into Manufacturing: Considerations for Implementation

AMRs can provide a flexible, easy-to-use automation platform so long as manufacturers choose a suitable task and prepare their facilities.

Read More
Machine Shop MBA
Top Shops

Machine Shop MBA

  Making Chips and 91ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ÎÛ are teaming up for a new podcast series called Machine Shop MBA—designed to help manufacturers measure their success against the industry’s best. Through the lens of the Top Shops benchmarking program, the series explores the KPIs that set high-performing shops apart, from machine utilization and first-pass yield to employee engagement and revenue per employee.  

Read More