Measurement
Going To The Extremes
When most of us think about measurement environments, what generally comes to mind are pleasant laboratories with temperatures controlled to 68°F/20°C—plus or minus a degree or two. Or in the worst case, we picture a gaging shop with swings of temperature between 65° and 90° F.
Read MoreDigitizer Drives Five-Axis CNC Head Porting To The Performance Redline
Why spend thousands of dollars on a precision machined engine block, crank and pistons, just to bolt on a set of unported cylinder heads with mismatched port volumes and rough wall surfaces? This is where hand porting comes in.
Read MoreCalipers: Ideal For Measurement On The Go
Although it has been around for a long time, the caliper is still an extremely versatile and useful tool for making a range of distance measurements (both ODs and IDs). While micrometers are more accurate, they have a limited measurement range (typically several inches).
Read MoreMachine Compensation
Ever since electronics first made their way onto machine tools, machine builders and users have tried to achieve some level of "automatic" process control. Certain causes of dimensional variation in machined parts—tool wear, for instance—occur gradually.
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Better Math Makes Scanning Stronger
Evaluating the suitability of a CMM for an application traditionally revolves around determining measurement uncertainty relative to the workpiece size and required tolerances. Generally the CMM should be 10 times more accurate than the tolerance it will verify. But what is the best method of acquiring the data?
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Perfect Gaging In An Imperfect World
It is certainly not news that, more and more, gages are being forced out onto the shop floor. Tight-tolerance measurements that were once performed in a semi-clean room by a trained inspection technician are now being done right next to the machine, often by the machinist.
Read MoreScanning CMM Technology Made More Affordable
While scanning CMMs have been around awhile, they haven't become a mainstay of general production mainly due to cost. There's little question as to the value that scanning can provide. Conventional CMM workpiece measuring processes are limited by the number of points that can be collected and analyzed in a reasonably time-efficient manner. Thus, point-by-point inspection in essence provides a spot check confirmation of certain workpiece features, but it can easily miss a variety of nonconforming geometry in between those checkpoints.
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Gaging Countersunk And Chamfered Holes
While countersunk and chamfered holes are similar in appearance, functionally they are quite different. Consequently, different gages exist to serve these different functional requirements.
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Never Forget The Basics
We spend a lot of time in this column discussing sophisticated gages and out-of-the-ordinary applications—so much so, that perhaps we've lately been neglecting the basics. After all, the fanciest electronics, computers and software won't deliver accurate results if good gaging practice is absent.
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Under Control
This small-parts machining operation combines superbly automated workholding and handling with total machining process management.
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