CONTURA coordinate measuring machine automates manufacturing

The rapidly changing market environment and the ever-increasing global competition in today's world are forcing manufacturers to constantly optimize their production processes and actively give customers a better sense of service.

Customers who need every minute and every second need to obtain faster service without sacrificing product quality. Everyone in the market today is talking about instant manufacturing and rapid time to market. Intralox mold design engineer Arvin Kumbakonam said that this is why we believe in automation. This is also a key part of our corporate strategy.

Ntralox produces thousands of graphite electrodes every year. They are used in the production of various types of belts. Regarding ZEISS products, Mr. Kumbakonam talked about it: Before purchasing the CONTURA coordinate measuring machine from ZEISS, we usually used general hand-held tools, such as basic optical comparators, micrometers and other measuring instruments to check the mold. As the mold cavity becomes more and more complex, the inspection work becomes more and more difficult to carry out, resulting in the entire process becoming very time-consuming and labor-intensive. At the time, we could not measure the geometry of some molds and electrodes at all. In addition, we also realized that in order to speed up the entire assembly line, we must increase the degree of automation. Therefore, we decided to purchase a three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine. Its use makes it possible for our mold inspection technicians to quickly inspect the geometry of the part and also make the entire process faster. He continued: In fact, these are the basic requirements of our time. But since we started using the ZEISS coordinate measuring machine, we have obtained more, that is, it can further help us to optimize the process flow.

Exceed expectations

Before deciding to purchase, Intralox's mold maker, Dave McClendon, was particularly interested in choosing a CMM that would bring maximum benefit. He said: We selected some key parts and sent them to several different coordinate measuring machine manufacturers for testing. A few weeks later, Mr. McClendon and Mr. Kumbakonam took part in the product testing demonstration and experienced and compared the capabilities of different CMMs.

In Carl Zeiss's presentation, Arvin and I were very impressed with the test results, especially CONTURA can easily detect several key parameters we need. In addition, what really impressed us was the contour scanning function of the VASTXT sensor. With this feature, we can not only accurately measure the geometry, but also easily achieve repeated measurements. The other manufacturers' machines cannot provide such functions. At the same time, Carl Zeiss's technology allows us to share information back and forth between PRO/E and SolidWorks, which provides valuable CAD interaction capabilities. Mr McClendon said.

Unexpected harvest

Mr. McClendon added: We sometimes also use wire cutting to produce long through holes with fairly small diameters. With the related functions of the coordinate measuring machine, the mold inspection master can now further detect the concentricity, roundness and straightness of these holes. In the past, we did not have this capability at all, and these have affected the molding process, so it is also very important for us. We place a round bar in each cavity to get the final part geometry, which requires a very precise tolerance of approximately 0.002 watts. With the ability to detect and record data throughout the mold process, Intralox can maintain the mold on a regular basis, and parts that need to be replaced can be instantly manufactured, thereby significantly reducing downtime.

They also discovered another benefit, which is the reverse engineering of certain plastic parts that can be manufactured through molds. Sometimes plastic products have inconsistencies, and this problem can be overcome by reverse design. Engineers can now easily perform part inspections and can perform mold cavity modifications in a timely manner to ensure that design specifications are met. This really helped us, Mr. Nick Judice, mold design engineer at Intralox, said that when you realize that a process without any added value is slowing down your entire process, the introduction of automation should be the top priority of your work!

CAD-based CALYPSO software benefits Intralox in many ways, particularly CALYPSO's parametric programming capabilities (PCM). Intralox uses the CALYPSO DLL interface to write Visual Basic programs to help store and retrieve information in the database. Another great benefit of this software is the ability to set multiple user levels. Once the program has been created, the operator can start the process inspection simply by pressing the start button. This ensures ease of use and ensures necessary safety and reliability.

Full integration

The use of a coordinate measuring machine improves the ability to measure with high precision, thereby reducing the time spent on quality assurance. Intralox's employees will focus on its use in daily work. In order to reduce waste, they rely heavily on automation. They automate the coordinate measuring machine, automate its user-defined language, automate its parameter programming capabilities, and through these, they obtain more reliable measurement data and reduce downtime. The functions provided by the coordinate measuring instrument far exceeded our expectations. At the same time, our measurement capabilities have been greatly improved. Mr. McClendon said that, for example, many of our components are supplied by external suppliers. We had no time to measure components purchased from outside. Now we have the ability to inspect these outsourced components to see how they meet the specification requirements. The degree ensures that the supplier and us adopt the same tolerance.

Equipment to promote production

Mr. Kumbakonam said: Having a coordinate measuring machine completely changed our view of the manufacturing industry. For us, it is not only a quality control device, but also promotes our production. He can tell us what went wrong during the manufacturing process and enabled us to eliminate these inconsistencies in a timely manner. McClendon added: Because graphite cuts at very high speeds, our corresponding tools are very prone to wear. Now with Zeiss CMM, we can easily specify better tools to ensure that we get the accuracy we specify for graphite parts. Using customized template programming, our coordinate measuring machine can detect the electrode geometry in just a few minutes. McClendon added: This is an immediate result.

CONTURA enables Intralox to enhance the quality and reliability of its products. This ensures that they can make accurate measurements in the production process before the final assembly, resulting in fewer custom production processes and more reliable machining tools. For the tolerance band of 0.005 to 0.0002 (127m to 5m), although the previous technology can also complete the measurement, it is time and costly. Not only that, but also the advanced features of CALYPSO can improve the forming grinding process. Considering the complex geometry of steel parts, especially when the required accuracy is maintained at 0.0002 (5m), this can be a very complicated and difficult process. But with CALYPSO, these problems can be solved. We put a piece of material on the grinder, take a piece of graphite and measure it. Once the limit of 0.0002 (5m) is reached, the forming grinding of the steel begins. McClendon said. Through CALYPSO, we have met and maintained our tolerance requirements numerous times. At the same time, the automatic measurement of the geometry of steel or graphite parts has also been achieved.

The ZEISS CONTURA automates the entire measurement process while also reducing the measurement time. Mr. Judice introduced that we can now eliminate those processes that have no added value and maintain the flexibility of production without sacrificing quality. We now have a coherent production cycle.