Gear manufacturers know that having rapid access to metrology data helps them improve processes, eliminate errors and drive productivity. But quality data can also play an important role in providing customers with individualised after-sales services.
When it comes to better serving customers there are several benefits to be gained from having a complete digital dimensional record of each gear part. Not only does richer metrology data enhance product quality during manufacture, it also informs after-sales services. Manufacturers can, for example, replace damaged gear parts for customers by using the exact measurements of the original, captured at the point of manufacture.
It’s important, however, to ensure that capturing a full dimensional record of all gear parts does not increase the time spent on quality inspection, which can be an issue for manufacturers that rely on the accuracy of tactile probing. The answer is to use an integrated inline metrology hardware and software system.
Automated inline inspection not only cuts down the time spent transporting parts from the shop floor to the metrology room, it reduces the need for operators to set up and oversee measurement operations. Within an automated manufacturing system, gear racks feed directly into a cleaning and drying cell, and then into the inline measurement system for automatic magnetic fixturing and non-contact, single line precision scanning. The result is the repeatable capture of quality data, performed by optical metrology systems that combine high speed with the accuracy of a tactile probe.
Hexagon’s HP-O optical sensor, for example, leads the industry by combining the accuracy of tactile probing with the speed of laser scanning through its use of advanced frequency-modulated interferometric optical distance measurement technology. The HP-O is particularly well suited to rotationally symmetric parts or straight parts with symmetric features and moves in a straight linein front of gear rack parts, for example, to automatically take measurements quickly.
To ensure they make full use of their data to inform production process and provide after sales care to customers, manufacturers can rely on QUINDOS CMM measurement and analysis software, which includes a database structure for storing measurement data and combines with QUINDOS automation management software to control a fully-automated parts workflow. QUINDOS also works with Q-DAS to give quality engineers an easy-to-use visual representation of the statistical analysis of measurement data.
Watch our video to discover how Hexagon’s software and hardware can capture business-critical data for gear manufacturers.
