Inspection & Quality

Mitutoyo America Corp. announces the release of lever-type dial test indicators with increased durability, sensitivity and readability. A wide array of styli and ruby tips allows for probing of many applications. Stylus length is marked on the dial face to assist customers when ordering replacement styli.

HEIDENHAIN updates its kit angle encoder line by modifying the ECA 4000 ring encoder to be able to survive and provide angular motion feedback within various machine types using a vacuum environment. Now able to handle a vacuum environment down to 10-7 mbar, the ECA 4000V encoder series has had a number of technical updates to accommodate high resolution and accuracy inside the vacuum chamber.

The new ec1 marking system from SIC Marking uses dot peen technology to achieve permanent marking of all industrial components. Dot peen technology provides a reliable and unalterable marking directly into the material, according to the company.

A new camshaft gage that features two independent opposed measuring heads for measuring key parameters including cam lobe chatter and straightness is being introduced by Adcole Corp. The Adcole 1302 dual-head camshaft gage features two independent opposed Heidenhain side wall measuring heads with ±10 mm travel for measuring sliding cam components with submicron accuracy.

High school manufacturing programs teach students to create production parts, preparing them for careers in industry. Those parts are primarily for terrestrial applications. However, unique and exciting opportunities to produce parts for use above the earth are available to partner-schools in a 14-year-old government program called HUNCH (High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware).

Where is the field of inspection headed and, more importantly, where do the manufacturers that depend on it desire it to head? In 2014, the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) combined forces with the University of North Carolina-Charlotte to find out.

Hassay Savage, which manufactures and supplies micro cutting tools such as broaches, round tools, reamers and drills, was searching for a new method of qualifying its micro cutting tools when company owner Robert Savage watched a demonstration of the Zoller Inc. »pomBasicMicro« at an American Gear Manufacturers Association event.

The MarSolutions team at Mahr Federal has developed a customized rpm gage for the dynamic measurement of cylindrical parts such as commutator shafts, turbocharger turbine shafts and other precision shafts in electric motors. The gage incorporates precision Vees and adjustable end-stops to support the shaft and define its axial position, and a motion belt to rotate the shaft at up to 20 rpm.

Leading drive and control specialist Bosch Rexroth has further enhanced its IMS-A position measurement system with the introduction of a DRIVE-CLiQ interface, enabling even more rapid setup. An innovative, robust and accurate measuring system, the IMS-A is, uniquely, fully integrated in the linear guide, resulting in a mechatronic system that combines the functions of guiding mechanical loads and measuring their absolute positions in a single unit.

Renishaw's new XM-60 multiple-axis calibrator is capable of measuring all six degrees of freedom from a single setup, in any orientation for linear axes. The XM-60 offers significant improvement in simplicity and time saving over conventional laser measurement techniques, according to the company.

Are you about to scrap an old machine tool and replace it with a new one? Before you do, consider what could be a much less expensive way of getting a better machine: having the old one remanufactured.

Often dictated by the production environment, part quantities and part function, the selection of a parts marking method presents a variety of choices—each of which comes with pros and cons.