Product category:
Tool and cutter grinding
News Release from: Koerber Schleifring UK | Subject: Helicheck Basic optical tool measuring machine
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 23 July 2007
Optical tool measurement machine
generates reports
An optical tool measuring machine has enabled a tooling supplier to make the transition from manual to automatic inspection report generation and improve product quality.
To improve the quality of the products supplied and to make the transition from manual to automatic inspection report generation, Guhring in the UK has installed a new Walter Helicheck Basic optical tool measuring machine Among the recent tool machining capacity installed at its UK site are three Guhring Universal CNC tool and cutter grinders (manufactured by Guehring in Germany) alongside four existing specialist CNC regrinding centres
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 29 Sep 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Until recently, the company measured tools and produced inspection reports manually.
"Three issues were forcing us to consider moving to automatic inspection," explained production manager Chris Weston.
"First, as our manufacturing service has evolved, requests for more complex cutting tools have become more frequent and it's a struggle to manually measure cutters such as very short three-flute tools." He continued: "Second, the move to PCD tools demands optical inspection - the material is so brittle that it will chip if touched by a micrometer.
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And third, the production of automatic inspection reports reflects more accurately the professional nature of our company".
The Helicheck Basic, supplied by Koerber Schleifring UK of Honiley near Kenilworth, offers 3C Direct View camera technology with cameras for back, front and top light illumination of tools measuring up to 320mm diameter by 400mm long.
The back light provides magnification of 50x, front and top of 100x; and combined with the solid granite base plate for temperature resistance and high stability, the result is a repeatability of 1.5 micron and an absolute accuracy of +/-2.2 micron at a measuring length of 10mm (VDI/VDE 2617: E1 = 2.2 micron + L/300).
To make its measurement machine choice the company carried out trials with a Walter Helicheck Basic and a European-manufactured competitor machines on trial at Guhring in Germany.
The company concluded that the Walter machine faster and easier to program.
Following installation in February 2007, the machine is measuring a range of carbide special drills and milling cutters (often featuring two or more diameters) largely for the automotive and aerospace sectors.
"The machine performs both 100 per cent measurement plus batch inspection," said Weston.
He added: "That's the beauty of this machine; we can just press the start button and walk away.
It hasn't 'missed a beat' since it was installed and it has provided our customers with an extra degree of confidence in the quality of our products".
* About Guhring in the UK - Guhring is the UK subsidiary of the German cutting tool specialist Guhring (or Guehring) and was founded 34 years ago.
It began purely as a tools stock centre, and during the last eight years has progressed into regrinding, tooling manufacture and even coating.
The company employs 58 people at its rapidly evolving West Midlands, Castle Bromwich, headquarters.
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