Improve Quality with Probing

Inspection and measuring equipment may include all of the tools and devices that are used to verify that a part’s dimensions conform to the tolerances required by the part’s design. One method, probing, can provide significant cost, efficiency and quality benefits, including automated measurement and updating of tool offsets. This process can reduce cycle time and the opportunity for human error while improving part quality.

Renishaw Inc. offers a probing software package designed to automatically optimize on-machine measurement cycles to minimize cycle time and maximize productivity. The Inspection Plus with SupaTouch software features an easy-to-use optimization process that is designed to automatically determine and select the machine tool’s highest feed rates while maintaining measurement accuracy. More information about the software can be found in “Machine Tool Probing Software Reduces Measurement Times.”

A more in-depth look at Renishaw gaging products can be seen in “Quality Gaging System Cuts Production Costs,” which details a shop that is reaching 100-percent part inspection and zero scrap with the Renishaw Equator gaging system. This system can gage about 150 features, including a number of bores, thicknesses and form measurements on the part with typical tolerances of ±25 microns. It has helped this shop reduce cycle times by almost 50 percent while cutting part production costs by 27 percent.