Renishaw has announced that its Equator shop-floor comparative gauge has been enhanced with the TP20 probe. The TP20 probe, which can now be used in addition to the scanning SP25 probe, is designed for single-point probing applications with new touch-trigger probing capability. "The two probing technologies allow the choice of the fastest data capture technique for each application or part," said a company spokesperson.
According to the company, Equator with TP20 is an alternative for in-line gauging tasks which might have used expensive custom hard gauges with single-point air gauges or LVDTs. "TP20 can be used for fast capture of discrete point data, with the stiff lightweight structure of Equator allowing short cycle times and high repeatability on simple touch point measurements," said the spokesperson. The touch trigger kit includes industry-standard TP20 modules and a new range of extension bars and joints. "The Equator can also switch automatically to the SP25 scanning module using the integrated changing rack to provide any combination of measurement routines," said the spokesperson. "SP25 allows continuous scanning of features at scan speeds of up to 200 mm/s, to gather high volumes of data on the form of features."
Feature Compare Interface
Equator uses the principle of mastering to cope with changes in temperature on the shop floor. "The process of calibrating the master part is now faster with the new Feature Compare function," said the spokesperson. "Master parts do not need to be expensive or custom made. Users can simply take a production part and measure it in any number of ways, such as on a calibrated coordinate measuring machine (CMM) in a temperature-controlled environment." According to the company, this measurement establishes the variation of the master part from the CAD or drawing nominals. Feature Compare allows the user to take the master part's measurement data and enter the compensation values for each feature's size, position or orientation relative to the CAD or drawing nominals. The Feature Compare interface has been designed for effortless data input.
"Re-mastering Equator on the shop floor with the master part is as fast as measuring a production part and immediately compensates for any change in the thermal conditions of a shop-floor environment," said the spokesperson. "Equator can be used in factories with wide temperature variation - simply re-master and the system is re-zeroed and ready for repeatable comparison measurements."
Traceability and Programming
According to the company, the calibrated accuracy of the CMM or other devices (often kept in a temperature-controlled metrology lab) can be effectively extended onto the shop floor to provide calibrated traceability to Equator measurements. With the calibration data for the master part loaded into the Equator software, measurements then made on the Equator gauge can be referred back to the CAD or drawing nominals for traceability to a calibrated device.
Equator inspection programs can be created or modified with Renishaw's comprehensive MODUS programming software. Shop-floor operators can select and run the programs using the intuitive Organiser front-end software. Organiser software can report gauging results as a simple pass/fail message, as a full inspection report, or through the Process Monitor window.
For more information contact:
Renishaw Inc.
5277 Trillium Blvd
Hoffman Estates, IL 60192
847-286-9953
usa@renishaw.com
www.renishaw.com
www.renishaw.com/gauging