Determining What to use for measurements
Determining What to use for measurements
(OP)
We are looking to purchase a 3d scanner to help speed up our inspection time. We have many dimensions that have XXX, which I Know should be measured by a factor of 10 beyond that. Unfortunately, purchasing a scanner that is accurate to .0001" is nearly impossible and would be cost prohibitive if it was. The scanners we are looking at are accurate to .001", if we verified any dimension that was within .001" of the tolerance limit with a more accurate device, would that be an acceptable industry practice?





RE: Determining What to use for measurements
As to what is "good enough" - that depends on your parts, your customers, and what your acceptable limitations are.
Before looking at machines at all, you should decide what degree of precision is required over 'x' inches, on a small scale, and what degree of precision is required over 'y' inches over a long distance. You should be involving your machine reps on this, and them be able to demonstrate it. Before we bought our Romer Arm with RS3 scanner, our dealer came out and duplicated some inspections we'd already performed on our Zeiss Contura bridge CMMs. We were able to compare/contrast a "known quantity" with the results from the demonstrated arm.
RE: Determining What to use for measurements
The 10x rule of thumb works well for hand tools but not for digitally controlled equipment such as 3d scanners and CMMs. 5x or 4x is much more practical.
Lastly, for accuracy to .0001" I would expect the need for a bridge type CMM system. Thermal stabilization time of the samples, climate controlled inspection room as well. I haven't kept up with 3D scanning solutions much but in the realm of accuracy a .0001" or .0002" accurate system seems quite optimistic.
As you shop for 3D scanning solutions, look very hard at how the system takes in the data and derives the characteristics on the drawing. 3D scanning can give you relative surface errors without much trouble but the real magic comes from how it processes the data and generates actual cylinder/plane/etc features and measures the drawing tolerances.
RE: Determining What to use for measurements
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Determining What to use for measurements
RE: Determining What to use for measurements
RE: Determining What to use for measurements