Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) have been around since the 1960s. In most precision manufacturing facilities, the CMM is the company’s chief dimensional measurement device that is traceable to the standards maintained by the national standards authority of the relevant country. Most CMMs are used to verify dimensional accuracy for quality control (QC) and first-article inspection, the function of checking the first part produced by a manufacturing process to verify that it is meeting tolerance requirements. Inspection with a CMM provides data for in-process measurements to ensure dimensional integrity from operation to operation and to satisfy traceability requirements. CMMs are also used to perform gage repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) studies, 2D and 3D scanning, part sorting, reverse engineering and a host of other tasks.
By some estimates, the global installed base of CMMs is over 150 000 units. During the past several decades, CMMs have become faster, more accurate and more affordable. While there has been much speculation that CMMs are becoming obsolete, the opposite is true. Today, CMMs are more versatile and functional than ever before.
Walter Meano Engineering has installed an Aberlink Axiom CMM. The machine has been supplied by Caldeaz Manufacturing Technologies. The Axiom CMM has a bed size of 600mm by 900mm and a component with a height of 500mm and a weight of up to 300kg can be measured as a standard
“Companies need advanced measurement solutions that enable them to guarantee the reliability of key processes such as validating the quality of manufactured parts and obtaining data for analysis and critical decision making. Thus, manufacturers usually employ quality control equipment such as a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) that is high technological value equipment designed to calculate the geometric characteristics of an object,” said Detlev Börner, Managing Director of Walter Meano Engineering.
Walter Meano Engineering (WME) supplies CNC machined components to the mining equipment, automotive and defence industries and is the manufacturer and distributor of the VersaFlo range of pumps. The VersaFlo VSE vertical spindle pump range was developed using over 40 years of experience gained with the Pompie and VPM air driven pumps and the VPM electric vertical spindle pump. Located in Germiston in a 2 400m² factory, the company has 23 Okuma CNC milling and turning machines, an Okuma CNC grinder and a Feranti 3D CNC coordinate measuring machine at its disposal. With SolidWorks CAD, SolidWorks Flow and Mastercam machining software, WME can manufacture to specific customer needs.
“After investing heavily in enhancing our machining capabilities, our Aberlink CNC CMM will allow our busy inspection department to keep pace with increased throughput and to inspect our high-accuracy parts to the required levels of precision. Also, the Aberlink’s ability to generate in-depth inspection reports and documentation will help us with our traceability records,” continued Börner.
Walter Meano Engineering is the manufacturer and distributor of the VersaFlo range of pumps
“Another factor is the easy-to-use Aberlink software and the fact that there is no maintenance on the software, updates get supplied as it is developed by the Aberlink Engineering team. While you measure a part the programme gets written as you go along or you can also programme the machine offline from another computer.”
“The Axiom CMM has a bed size of 600mm by 900mm and a component with a height of 500mm and a weight of up to 300kg can be measured as a standard. If you are measuring smaller components the fixtures allow you to simultaneously measure up to 60 components with the same repeatability. The Axiom can be used with touch trigger probe, continuous contact scanning probe or with Aberlink’s revolutionary non-contact camera system.”
“The machine has been supplied by Caldeaz Manufacturing Technologies.”
Located in an environmentally controlled facility
“To follow best practices our new CMM machine is located in an environmentally controlled facility. We have done this so as to make it an enclosure with control systems that meet a variety of environmental and cleanliness requirements when measuring high-tolerance components.”
Walter Meano Engineering supplies CNC machined components to the mining equipment, automotive and defence industries
“Precise temperature control can be maintained with cooling systems for lower temperature requirements and humidity can be regulated. As can the dust.”
“We are now confident that our machines can machine with positional accuracies of +/-0.5 micron, which enables us to meet the requirements of clients with high-tolerance components.”
“For all their advancements, CMMs have long been the source of bottlenecks and frustration on the manufacturing floor. Machine tools may sit idle for hours, even days, waiting for the inspection results from the QC lab prior to the production. It’s not hard to understand why many production managers would like to see CMMs taken out of the QC lab and put onto the manufacturing floor.”
For further details contact Walter Meano Engineering on TEL: 011 873 8620 or visit www.wme.co.za
