The long haul trucking or “Over the Road” (OTR) vehicle industry is no stranger to implementing modular tooling for their fixturing needs, especially in America.

Cylindrical ring gages have a number of inspection purposes. They are used as Go/No-Go gages to inspect the outside diameter of a shaft or rod. They are masters for dial bore gages, internal micrometers and coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). 

Quality standards require that measuring equipment be calibrated prior to being put into service. In addition, the maintenance of measuring equipment requires recalibrations at regular intervals. 

This situation pops up quite regularly when a relatively simple feature such as the diameter of a hole in a machined part doesn’t appear to be right when the part is at the assembly stage of manufacture. Like similar disputes, the finger pointing begins and compromises are made but the problem doesn’t go away. 

There is a long-standing practice in the computer aided inspection industry that includes CMMs to report in-tolerance values in green and out-of-tolerance values in red.

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies continuously blaze the trail of what’s possible for part design. As such, reliably and accurately inspecting the latest parts has become increasingly complex.

The first half of 2020 found manufacturers having to pivot in the face of unprecedented challenges. Many had to halt production or, at the very least, slow production due to decreased demand and onsite worker limits.

In this application case study, we look at how a manufacturer of precision optical manufacturing and metrology equipment uses collaborative robots and a new robotic gripper/caliper to provide a solution that helps its customers optimize quality control measurements in the quality assurance area of their factory.