WHEN THE FIXTURE NEEDS FIXING

October 30, 2008 Products

What happens if your fixture is deformed? This new 3D optimal measuring system offers a solution.

DPA Inspect measures fixtures in a cost-saving and precise way. They were showcased at EuroBLECH (Hall 11, Stand F38) and Euromold (Hall 8, Stand A24)

No production does without fixtures. All industrial sectors use them to fix work pieces in the position required for further processing and guarantee a constantly high quality of the components. Yet what happened if the fixture itself would be deformed? In order to avoid this worst case scenario, all fixtures are controlled periodically so that deviations to their nominal geometries can immediately be detected and corrected. The DPAInspect 3D optical measuring system takes care of this measuring task. The system is unique in that it reaches very high accuracies while having a low acquisition price.

This 3D industrial measuring system applies a digital camera for data collection to make the system light-weight and portable. This enables the user to easily measure fixtures at any location within a short period of time. Thanks to the new pin adapters, the geometry elements for alignment may be measured with a high precision (length accuracy of according to VDI 2634: ± 0.015 mm/m). Also, the user places so-called self-adhesive stickers on the fixture in order to signalize the contact surfaces. The alignment points are signalized with standard cube-shaped adapters. After this preparation, the user merely has to photograph the fixture from different viewing angles with the camera.

Measurement software packages such as PolyWorks/Inspector, Geomagic or Rapidform integrate as a plug-in. Consequently, the 3D measuring data collected with this camera are directly transferred to the available measurement software for analyzing, e.g. for a comparison with CAD data. In doing so, the user stays in his usual software environment and starts the plug-in simply with a click.

This system is shipped with the digital camera Nikon D3 with WLAN connection and a resolution of 12 mega pixels. It also includes calibrated reference scale bars as well as the adapter and sticker range necessary for the specific application.

AICON 3D Systems GmbH, Biberweg 30C, D-38114 Braunschweig, Germany, +49 (0)531 – 58 000 75, Fax: +49 (0)531 – 58 000 60, www.aicon3d.com.

Subscribe to learn the latest in manufacturing.