Multifunctional measurer

What’s better than a system that provides fast, accurate measurements for roundness? Better would be a system combining that capability with two additional measuring functions needed in the production of a wide variety of workpieces and geometries.

That’s the thinking behind the design of the RTX Roundtracer Extreme from Mitutoyo America Corp. in Aurora, Illinois. Mitutoyo bills the Roundtracer Extreme as an all-in-one CNC machine that integrates roundness, contour and surface roughness measurement capabilities in a single platform to save time and boost productivity.

The Roundtracer Extreme measures workpieces by moving a measurement stylus along a vertical column z-axis, as well as a perpendicular x-axis. The stylus can be set at two different orientations. Changes in the tip position of the stylus are recognized automatically by system software.

Workpieces sit on a table that rotates during the measurement process. Movement along the linear axes and around the rotational axis is motorized. The fully motorized system allows continuous automatic measurement of different parameters.

“Once you write your part program and set up your part, it can do those different measurements without stopping for any interruptions,” said Product Specialist Chris Lee.

The RTX Roundtracer Extreme is designed to provide fast, accurate measurement of workpiece roundness, contour and surface roughness. Image courtesy of Mitutoyo America” data-entity-type=”file” data-entity-uuid=”9b4d2dcb-92ae-4a8c-9de6-97e335465dfa” height=”573″ src=”/wp-content/uploads/legacy/inline-images/roundtracer-extreme%20%28002%29.jpg” width=”627″ />

The motorized Roundtracer Extreme offers linear axis speeds of up to 100 mm/sec. and a maximum rotary axis drive speed of 30 rpm.

Compared with manual axis movement, the high-speed axis motors decrease positioning times, Lee said, “so setup time is lowered and you can measure your parts faster.”