Historically, in-process gaging has not been widely used in the machine tool industry, but today that’s changing. Gaging companies have been evolving their products and making them easier to use, while enabling users to do more with gaging routines.

For as long as there’ve been in-process gaging systems, they’ve used hydraulic or pneumatic actuators to drive them. 

“Since the beginning, humans have searched for superior more practical methods to fulfill holding and clamping needs.” I said this a long time ago about modular tooling and the beat goes on.

Within a metrology inspection environment, fixturing is a three-step process of positioning, locating and securing a workpiece within a measuring volume for inspection. 

The height gage has transformed. From its infancy to today, the height gage has been in the grittiest shop environments. In spite of that, height gages also have the ability to meet the quality measurement demands of any precision laboratory. Regardless of how they are used or where, height gages have stood the test of time and remain an essential tool in every workshop.

Quality is often misunderstood. More specifically, the benefits of a well implemented quality management system (QMS) are not universally known and appreciated, and that can cost lives. Conversely, when executives and manufacturing personnel understand the benefits of a QMS, patient outcomes improve, the quality of life is enhanced, and manufacturers prosper.

Today’s manufacturing industry relies on the use of GD&T definitions, and the ability to verify parts directly to them for first article and production inspection and reporting. Only then do orders ship and the manufacturer gets paid. Price and scheduling are negotiable, quality is not!

Color is the first thing we see and the first thing we connect to. Color influences up to 85% of product purchasing decisions and more importantly, our reactions to color are 95% emotional, therefore the first impression or reaction is critical. 

On every trade show floor featuring additive manufacturing, there’s a growing selection of additive processes for making production parts that stand alongside machines more commonly associated with prototyping. An essential aspect of additive’s transition from prototyping to production is data collection.

The load cell sensor is arguably the most important component in a force measurement or material testing system’s ability to provide accurate, precise and valid measurements. A sensor’s accuracy is often the primary characteristic that is used to specify a load cell sensor for a given application.