With continuous advances in optical inspection technology yielding 3D scanners that are today capable of stunning speed and accuracy, a growing number of companies are including this technology in their first article inspection (FAI) procedures. The key benefit of using an instrument that rapidly collects millions of data points is that all part/assembly dimensions can be measured in far less time; and in the case of CT scanning, internal measurements can be taken without destroying the parts.
Traditionally, FAI utilizes coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). The majority of CMMs implement a touch probe to acquire points one at a time. There has been progress in recent years with some tactile probes now moving to allow streaming of points but most CMMs still take only one measurement/point every few seconds.