Measurement (ITM) system for use on its own machine tools. At full spindle speed, cameras take high-speed digital pictures and process them. The ITM does not measure just one single point; it optically inspects the whole tool contour. Features measured include length, diameter, radius and tip quantity, and quality. By comparing the results against a previously stored image of the tool, it can compensate for pollution, such as chips or coolant drops, by digitally ‘cleaning’ the image of the tool before making a measurement. The company said it typically offers an absolute Z-reference and tool radius below the range of ±1 µm in the process.
“There are many such optical systems that reside outside of the machine,” explained Eric Ostini, product manager for GF AgieCharmilles. “The problem with outside of the machine is that the system does not take into consideration where the tool sits in the spindle, what the heat of the tool is during normal operation.” He also pointed out that tool blends are especially important in moldmaking and other machining
operations, and the ITM is especially good at measuring the blends of radii and curvature, determining tool wear in these critical areas.
The improvements of their machining centers themselves drove the need for improved measurement. “When we went to a linear motor drive system [on our machine tools], we were seeing precision in our movements that were above the capa- bility of a normal machine,” he explained. Touch probes and laser systems were not providing accuracies needed to get the best finishes, tool blends, and accuracies.
Conserving Cycle Time with Alternative Sensing There are other ways of determining tool wear or break-
age, too. Measuring the part, for instance, during or after machining, is often used to infer the condition of the tool. The advantage is that the machine does not stop while tool wear is measured—theoretically, there is no sacrifice in cycle time, a key advantage.
While air gaging as a measuring Cool Flash: Optimized cooling to the cutting edge
HAIMER Cool Flash Handling
Benefi cial Application
Cooling range at the cutting edge Tool life
Chip removal RPM
Application range Diameter range
simple and safe
without interference contour 100 %
maximized optimized
for High Speed Cutting (HSC) for all areas of application from 1/8”
Cooling slots feed the coolant down to the cut- ting edge of the tool.
tool is not new, Jenoptik Industrial Metrology (Hommel-Etamic; Rochester Hills, MI) has taken the concept to a new level with its TPE200 pneumo- electronic transducer. This component converts pneumatic pressure signal variations into numerical values with a response time of less than 15 ms using a #10-air nozzle. Using an application-specific pneumatic system, the sensor achieves repeatability of better than 0.01 µm (to DIN standard 2271), depending on the application. Air gaging, by its very nature, is limited in its range of measurement. However, this nifty device measures in ranges from ±5 µm to ±500 µm, according to Andreas Blind, vice president of sales for Jenoptik, well outside the normal range of air gaging. Included in the package is a second sensor for measuring the air supply pressure to compensate for variations, and a third sensor measures temperature. “This is ideal when paired with grinding or hon- ing operations for inner diameters,” ex-