Metrology & Measurement

ZOLLER Inc. welcomed more than 150 visitors to its premier 2-day Open House & Innovations Days event, which took place on June 19th and June 20th at the company's new North American Headquarters and Industry 4.0 Tech Center, in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Zoller Inc. hosted its open house and Innovation Days event June 19-20 at the tool presetting and measuring equipment manufacturer's new facility in Ann Arbor, Mich.

It is certainly not news that, more and more, dedicated gages are being placed at the point of manufacture. Tight-tolerance measurements that were once performed in a semiclean room by a trained inspection technician are now being done right next to the machine, often by the machinist.

Mahr Inc. has partnered with the University of Rhode Island's (URI) engineering department to offer students the opportunity to work on real-world engineering and manufacturing problems. As part of the URI capstone project, students in their senior year are selected to take part in a year-long capstone project focused on automation of submicron precision finishing of ring gages.

When seeking straightness, as well as parallelism, perpendicular end cuts and other important geometric dimensioning and tolerancing features, the goals at Metal Cutting Corp. are cost-effectiveness and high-quality, tight-tolerance parts. To that end, the company finds that using qualitative test methods for straightness and other features consistently helps keep production costs under control while delivering the results that customers need.

The biggest benefit a digital vision system provides is the machine's ability to automatically measure parts, whereas the human operator influences a manual analog measurement device, such as an optical comparator.

The Heidenhain Specto 3087 RC length gage reportedly increases productivity and efficiency, particularly in applications where it's not possible to clamp the workpiece on a separate device to inspect it. Instead, the gage integrates a highly accurate measuring process directly into the production process.

Frost & Sullivan's latest analysis, "Adoption of IIoT in the Global Test and Measurement Market, Forecast to 2022," finds that the value of the Industrial Internet of Things in test and measurement market is expected to reach $104.8 million by 2022 growing at a compound annual growth rate of 6.7 percent from 2016.

Like most of us, Jay Hegemann deletes a lot of emails every day. Everything from miracle cures for baldness to special offers from credit card vendors go right into the trash. However, something about the email from Keyence's sales engineer earlier this spring caught Hegemann's eye and he decided to take another look.

In 5-axis machining, accurate rotary axis centerlines are critical, so regularly measuring and verifying these values is also critical. While the best course of action is to measure the machine using a high-tech system intended for this purpose, in a pinch you can use a manual process.

Measuring machined parts on a surface plate has long been a tedious job, one that requires mastery of dial indicators, a pocket calculator and an adjustable height gage that most in the industry refer to as a "Cadillac gage." But several metrology providers offer a more sophisticated way to quickly and accurately check hole diameters, the distance between part features, centerlines and more.

FANUC America has selected HEIDENHAIN's tocuh probes for use and training on its popular ROBODRILLs in its recently expanded CNC machining laboratory in Hoffman Estates, Ill.