Dimensional Measurement & Inspection Probes
Xspect Solutions Installs First North American Production Application of Renishaw Revo 5-Axis Scanning Technology at Turbomachinery Manufacturer
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Turbocam International's manufacturing operation in Barrington, New Hampshire applies new Renishaw Revo 5-axis scanning technology to measure impellers, rotors, turbine blades and compressor stages.
Turbocam International is a world leader in 5-axis machining and is a respected supplier of turbomachinery for the aerospace, automotive and industrial markets. Many of the complex, close-tolerance, multi-dimensional components they produce are machined from the solid and require sophisticated and complete inspection to insure their accuracy. In the past this has been a tedious and painstaking process, even with the advent of the CMM. However, in recent years scanning probe technology has greatly improved inspection time and helped manufacturers like Turbocam to better integrate CMM programming with mill-tool-path programming. Even the scanning technology has made great strides, and the new Renishaw REVO is helping to significantly decrease that inspection time once more.
Dave Romain, quality assurance manager for Turbocam's Barrington, New Hampshire operation says, "Because of the complex shapes of the products we manufacture, we were an early user of scanning technology. For three years we had been using a Zeiss CMM with a Renishaw TP20 fixed probe, which required quite a bit of program writing time for all the different types of 5-axis machined parts we are producing. In addition, we were not able to integrate the code from the Zeiss CMM software with our CAD programs, which was preventing us from making fast program changes. In an effort to bring in some new CMM technology that would better suit our particular 5-axis machining applications, we contacted Xspect Solutions to look at some new Wenzel CMM equipment, discuss their OpenDMIS software and compare their CMM scanning capabilities with what we were doing on our Zeiss machine. At our visit we saw a Renishaw REVO scanning probe system in action and were immediately sold on its capabilities. Unlike conventional scanning methods, which rely on speeding up the motion of the CMM in order to scan quickly, the REVO uses synchronized motion to minimize the dynamic errors of CMM motion at ultra high scanning speeds. An internal laser system accurately measures the exact position of the probe tip within the probe body down a hollow stylus to a reflector at the stylus tip. Unlike conventional styli that need to be very stiff, the new hollow stylus is designed to bend, thereby deflecting the return path of the laser beam, which is monitored by a Position Sensing Detector mounted in the probe body.
Romain adds, "We've found that up to 500 mm/sec is possible without accuracy penalties, and it allows us the use of long styli which we need with some of our parts. As a result of this first visit, we purchased a new Wenzel 8.10.7 CMM equipped with the REVO probe system and we have standardized on OpenDMIS software which allows us to easily integrate our CAD programs. Eighteen months later we purchased a second Wenzel CMM, also with a REVO probe system. This machine was a Wenzel 10.12.8, a little larger machine, and because Xspect Solutions has a rebuild and remanufacturing division, they took our old Zeiss in on trade. Subsequently, we've purchased one of Wenzel's economical X-Orbit 5.7.5 CMMs to perform all our non-scanning CMM work and anticipate adding oue more of those machines as well.
Romain summarizes, "In total, we now have three manual and three DCC CMMs in the department, where we run a 2-shift operation. We have standardized on OpenDMIS software for all our CMMs and Xspcet Solutions has now trained thirteen of our CMM technicians. Our ultimate goal of significantly reducing the time required to write inspection programs has been achieved. We are now looking at a new level of improvement by analyzing "families of parts" which we believe we can associate with our customer's design processes to reduce the manufacturing time even more."
Wenzel GmbH is the 4th largest CMM builder in the world and manufacturers its CMMs intrinsically accurate, negating the need for the huge error compensation files to achieve quoted accuracies, which have become the norm in past years from most CMM manufacturers. The black granite used on Wenzel CMMs is processed in-house at their impressive manufacturing facilities in Germany, not imported from China pre-finished...which is now the industry norm.
Xspect Solutions, Inc. headquartered in Wixom, Michigan, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wenzel GmbH of Germany. Xspect Solutions is the Number 3 supplier of CMMs in the North American metrology market including; new Wenzel CMMs, and is the world's largest supplier of pre-owned CMM equipment. Xspect Solutions also supplies
Dave Romaine, Quality Assurance Manager
TURBOCAM International
Barrington, New Hampshire 03825
Tel: 603-905-0328
Fax: 603-905-0201
Dave.romaine@turbocam.com
Send all Inquiries To:
Keith Mills, Xspect Solutions, Inc.
47000 Liberty Drive
Wixom, Michigan 48393
Tel: (248) 295-4300
Fax: 248-295-4301
kmills@XspectSolutions.com
