Drawing on 30 years of design and manufacturing experience, Ansco (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) always turns a critical eye to the design and functionality of the parts it produces and actively seeks cost savings and efficiencies in its processes and finished products. It put this critical thinking to use when it was challenged with the machining of a cast iron housing that weighs approximately 750 pounds. This part was too large and cumbersome to be inspected by Ansco’s traditional bridge-type coordinate measuring machine (CMM).

The cast iron housing had several large bored holes and ring grooves that had to be held to within a 0.001-inch tolerance. There also were several drilled and tapped holes for various bolts and fittings. Although the bores could easily be checked with dial bore gages, it was difficult to check the location and relation between features using conventional methods.

The older technology could not accommodate the housing and all of its features, particularly with the features being on different sides. With an inspection requirement of 100% and full documentation on all 80 critical features, it was not practical to do a layout and check using conventional methods. These methods were not sufficient in terms of size, time or cost.

Portable CMM to the Rescue

After seeing an on-site demonstration of the Faro (Lake Mary, FL) Gage, Ansco could easily see that the gage was the only tool that could do and meet its needs.

The Faro Gage is a portable CMM designed to enable machinists to speed through measurement challenges and produce the most accurate results. It allows measurements to be taken right on the shop floor, without the need for stopping production. The gage provides accuracy up to 0.0002 inch, and because it offers portability and quick setup, it reduces inspection time. Since the gage can automatically record measurements, inspection reports are easily generated.

Return on Investment

A conventional layout and checkout would take more than an hour and a half using conventional technology. But with the Faro Gage, Ansco can set the part up on the table, check out all of the required features, and return it to the skid in less than 20 minutes. That is almost an 80% reduction of the standard work time, which equates to a real savings in time and productivity. Without this capability, Ansco would not be able to meet the delivery requirements for this project.

“This project is now in its third year of production and we are still going strong,” said Wes Suladie, Ansco’s quality assurance manager. “We can honestly say that of all of the suppliers of machined components for the end product, Ansco was the only supplier that did not have one field reject. That’s because we were able to find the errors and correct them before they ever got to the customer and the Faro Gage was a big part of that success.”



Faro Technologies Inc.

(800) 736-0234

www.faro.com

Benefits

The Faro Gage provides accuracy up to 0.0002 inch.

The A conventional layout and checkout would take more than an hour and a half using conventional technology, but with the Faro Gage, it takes less than 20 minutes.

The gage allows measurements to be taken right on the shop floor, without the need of stopping production.