Use Case of American Photodynamic Laser Interferometer MCV-4000

The laser calibration system guarantees the accuracy of the machine tool and the CMM

Tapemation Machine, Inc. located in California, USA is a supplier with more than 40 years of history and specializing in the production of high-strength steel parts. The company is responsible for processing and manufacturing large-scale precision parts for the aerospace, defense, naval, medical, scientific research, electronics and petroleum industries. In a 5000 square meter plant, there are 22 five-axis Anayak, Mazak, SNK, Rambaudi and Leblond-Makino And other companies' machining centers and coordinate measuring machines. Its internal quality control system fully meets or exceeds the MIL-I-45208A standard. The product quality control is very strict, and the requirements on the dimensional tolerances of components are very high. Therefore, regularly calibrating the machine tool with a laser measuring instrument to ensure its accuracy is of great significance to Tapemation Machine, Inc. However, it is a complicated and time-consuming process to inspect and calibrate the three-coordinate measuring machine and the five-axis machining center. Especially hiring a foreign service provider to do this work increases the cost and downtime, which greatly affects the company's production. effectiveness.

"Calibration is not a requirement of our suppliers, but is determined by the nature of our industry." Bruce Erickson, the company's president, said: "According to the requirements of the ISO2000 and 45208 testing procedures, we calibrate the CMM at least once a year. The accuracy of all machine tools is regularly laser calibrated as part of the equipment maintenance plan. It is also necessary. However, we cannot find a service provider with experience and ability to calibrate all machine tools. So the company started from Optodyne , Inc. purchased a set of MCV-4000 laser measurement and calibration system. The system has a dual-beam laser head, dual-channel processor and optical square mirror for straightness, perpendicularity and angle measurement. We can use this system to Simultaneously calibrate the machine tool and the Brown & Sharpe MDL3000 Validator coordinate measuring machine with a stroke of 132 inches (X), 47 inches (Y), 78 inches (Z). "The parts processed at Tapemation have very strict tolerance requirements. For example: 40-inch diameter parts have a tolerance of ± 0.001 inches, and 10-foot parts have a flatness of ± 0.005 inches . President Bruce Erickson said: "Our company operates the MCV-4000 laser calibration system by a mechanic who manages the quality. Although we are testing a complex five-axis machine tool, including a rotary table, he only spent a week. Mastered the operation method of the system. Compared with the service provider we hired from outside, the cost is greatly reduced and the efficiency is improved.

The rotary axes A and B of the machine tool are calibrated with a precision metal ball mounted on the main shaft, and the laser head and condensing system are installed on the workbench. A 4-inch focal length lens is used to focus the laser beam on the surface of the metal ball. The laser head points in the X-axis direction, and the distance between the laser head and the ball can be measured by moving the main axis to adjust the distance from the laser head and turning the A-axis and B-axis.

The calibration process of the turntable is driven by a motor, and the programmable turntable is automatically completed without manual movement back and forth. This reduces the turntable calibration time and minimizes operator-induced errors. Using the turntable calibration accessories and related software, the table of the turntable stays for 3-5 seconds after each rotation to collect angle data.

“Employing an outside service company to calibrate the CMM once will cost US $ 6,500. We need to calibrate it twice a year for US $ 13,000.” President Bruce Erickson said: “Because our machine tools have more specifications, the service company ’s technical staff We ca n’t calibrate all of them, especially our five-axis machine tool is very difficult to do. And now we can complete the inspection and calibration of all machine tools only by buying half of the MCV-4000 laser calibration system of Optodyne company every year. The investment for the purchase of MCV-4000 was recovered, and we believe that this investment is a very worthwhile investment. "