QUALITY & METROLOGY MEASURED INVESTMENT
Industry & product news in brief
Vision Engineering, a manufacturer of high quality visual
inspection and measurement technologies, has launched its
latest, innovative agship product, Deep
Reality Viewer (DRV-Z1) microscope, globally
(Machinery, June 2019, p30 and at https://
is.gd/miyapo).
Trimos’ entry-level A3 portable inspection
arm allows the inspection and veri cation
of small to large parts, while the 6-axis
con guration is available in both 1,300 and
1,800 mm measuring ranges. More details:
https://is.gd/zayowa
The Cobalt Design structured light scanner
product family is now available from Faro.
Structured light scanning technology uses
projected light patterns with a camera system
to capture large areas at once. More details:
https://is.gd/ecidej
LK Metrology will unveil the ALTERA C
ceramic-bridge CMM range at this year’s
Advanced Engineering exhibition (p48), which takes place on 30-31
October at the Birmingham NEC. More details: https://is.gd/jeroso
Sick’s ‘Presence Inspection’ is a freely-downloadable, easy to
set-up SensorApp for its Inspector P family of programmable 2D
vision cameras. More details: https://is.gd/zepodo
Working closely alongside race teams
and engine builders alike, GoodFabs uses
titanium, Inconel and other exotic high end
materials to produce bespoke and small
batch parts using a combination of tube
forming and pressing, tube bending, heat
shielding, machining and fabrication.
In an industry where a quick turnaround
on parts is a key, there’s little room for
manoeuvre when strict tolerances and
accuracies must be achieved.
While already using an articulating arm
for larger, less complex measurement
routines, customer requirements prompted
Goodfabs to consider more accurate
measurement solutions, as process
manager Paul Watson explains: “A number
of machined parts were subject to tighter
and tighter tolerances, due to the nature of
the business, and we needed an extra level
of accuracy to meet requirements – our
articulating arm is ne for larger, more
complete assemblies, but we were not able
to achieve the accuracy needed on much
smaller components.
“For this reason, we decided to invest in
GOM Software 2019 has been developed in line with customer
requirements and includes a whole range of newly added features
this year, especially for industry-speci c applications. More details:
https://is.gd/awayiy
The Sylvac Scan S145 (pictured, left) has
been developed to measure mid- to largesize
in diameter and 1,280 mm in length. More
details: https://is.gd/sibahi
A web-based platform has been introduced
by CMM manufacturer LK Metrology to help
production departments monitor and control
inspection activities around the clock. More
details: https://is.gd/ucocem
Creaform has released Pipecheck 5.1,
representing a major upgrade to this nondestructive
integrity inspections in the oil and gas industry.
More details: https://is.gd/hucutu
Contract inspection and reverse engineering capacity has
doubled, in terms of throughput, while the size of component
that can be measured has increased more than ve-fold at Laser
Scanning Ltd, based near Shef eld, following the installation of a
second, larger CMM built by LK Metrology. More details: https://
is.gd/jaraze
a CMM to ensure that parts were conforming
to customer-supplied drawings.”
Following extensive research and a review
of the available options, GoodFabs attended
a demonstration of Aberlink’s Axiom too
CNC CMM at the metrology expert’s
headquarters in Gloucestershire. Suitably
impressed, GoodFabs plumped for an Axiom
too 600 CNC CMM complete with automatic
indexing touch-trigger probe and Aberlink’s
industry standard, easy-to-use 3D
measurement software (supplied free of any
annual software subscription charges or
maintenance fees).
Following installation, Watson has this to
say of the new metrology set-up: “The Axiom
too CNC CMM and Aberlink 3D
measurement software, with its graphical
interface, is very easy to use. So much so
that when our lead inspector was
unfortunately unable to attend the training
session, in just a few days he was able to
pick up how to use the software from
colleagues who did attend – an excellent
demonstration of just how easy it is to use
and how good the training was from Aberlink.
cylindrical parts sized up to 145 mm
testing (NDT) software for pipeline
In addition, due to the machine’s accuracy,
we can now measure components to much
tighter tolerances.”
And he suggests that the new capability
will attract new business: “In general, if we
think there’s a better service we can provide
because there’s better software or
technology available, then we’ll do that.
We’ve invested heavily in the machining
aspect of our company and the Axiom too
CMM is another investment that will aid the
business. We can develop and extend our
machining capabilities, because we know
that the accuracies of what we produce are
dead-on.
“Customers can design whatever they
want, but achieving it isn’t always easy. The
Axiom too CMM now allows us to highlight to
prospective customers the tolerances that
we can meet and, in the long term, it’ll
enable us to have more discussions about
what we can produce. When we’ve talked to
our existing customers about the CMM,
they’ve seen the machine as a much
welcome addition to our inspection
capabilities.”
34 www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets October 2019
/zayowa
/ecidej
/jeroso
/zepodo
/awayiy
/sibahi
/ucocem
/hucutu
/www.machinery.co.uk