Quality inspection is an integral part of bringing parts to market. From pacemakers to aircraft engines, detecting flaws in critical parts before final products are completed and mass-produced can save lives and ensure product performance.
"The traditional problem is that inspection takes time. Inspecting a first-off product can take hours on its own and hold up the entire production process. Inspection technology such as coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and vision inspection systems continue to add sophisticated features, but at times system software has not been the most user-friendly," said a Nikon Metrology spokesperson.
One modern development has been inspecting a component's 3-D CAD model to save time and improve efficiency. "Inspecting CAD and 3-D is definitely a `checklist item'," said Mike Provenzano, Applications Engineer for Vision Products at Nikon Metrology. "If you do not have it, you are off a customer's checklist."
Nikon Metrology has announced CMM-Manager 3.5 for Nikon's iNexiv vision measuring equipment. With a user-friendly interface, CMM-Manager 3.5 works with vision measuring, autofocus laser scanning, rotary indexing and touch probing to provide a true 3-D multi-sensor system for both physical products and 3-D CAD models.
"CAD is now an integrated part of product measuring and inspection," said Nate Frost, Nikon Product Manager. "It is important because it opens up opportunities to take programming and inspection offline and save significant time bringing new products to market."
"Historically, vision hardware technology has outpaced software development. Previous software versions assumed users were working in a 2-D template on an X-Y workplane," said Frost. "The latest CMM-Manager can import 3-D CAD models and pick features to create automatic probe paths for both vision and tactile measuring. It can align any part regardless of part complexity or geometry for the most efficient inspection and measuring. Simulations can be run and inspection results can be verified in real time. In fact, the more complete the CAD model, the more efficient the inspection process becomes."
"With vision, autofocus laser, rotary indexer and tactile input, we can even measure features and geometry that cannot be seen," said Frost. "3-D input also can be expressed as 3-D output in the forms of charts and models as opposed to long tables of X-Y data, making reporting and decision making much faster and easier."
CMM-Manager 3.5 is not only available for iNexiv equipment; it can also be retrofitted onto existing CMMs and articulated arms from Nikon Metrology and other technology providers.
For more information contact:
Nikon Metrology, Inc.
12701 Grand River Rd.
Brighton, MI 48116
810-220-4360
marketing.nm-us@nikon.com
www.nikonmetrology.com