New age tools

[Job]

I was looking for “Leitz height gauge” and came across this. They are showing engine components being measured. I had no idea of the advancements. Sub micron measuring. I didn’t know it is even possible due to flexure but there it is. If Leitz says it, it’s reliable information. Who knows maybe this is old itself.

https://www.hexagonmi.com/~/media/H...eet/Leitz REFERENCE HP 775 Data Sheet_en.ashx

 

[KGMtech]

I am retired from my Automotive metal stamping career, but I can assure you the metrology technology in use is amazing.

We had multiple full CMM with bed sizes up to 12 ft x 5 ft. All in temperature controlled rooms.

Just before I retired, company just got a new laser measuring system, you put a large welded assembly - a car cross beam - Instrument Panel structure into a box and close the door, multi position lasers measure all features and advise what is good, getting worse, or outright wrong. You can use the same system to track trends, and give your customer data for the last 10,000 assemblies.

I can also assure you that what gets shared with the end OEM is not always what went out the door....just sayin.

 

[djl]

CMMs have been around for a long time, very commonly used by Automotive, Aerospace, and Medical device industries. There are units large enough to drive a car onto for body measurements. Laser scanning heads are getting better all the time as well, all depends on your tolerance requirements and the gage R&R level you are trying to achieve. All of our drawings are GD&T based, so CMMs come in handy at replicating the datum structure. One area that is absolutely crucial is proper fixturing, it'll make or break the entire process. Proper gage R&R can only be achieved with proper implementation of an entire system: CMM, fixturing, ambient temperature/humidity control, floor vibration control, and incorporating multiple operators over many shifts.

You can buy the most accurate measurement instrument, but you'll be fooling yourself if the other variables are not taken into account. We use Zeiss, one of leaders in metrology: https://www.zeiss.com/corporate/us/home.html