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Laser
Tracker.com Contract Inspection |
"TRACKING SOLUTIONS TO TODAY'S NEEDS WITH TOMORROW'S TECHNOLOGY" Page 2 At Prime Machine, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah, our philosophy is to keep stepping in the right direction. It became apparent that for us to compete, we needed an advantage, something that would set us apart. We have large machining capabilities with excellent craftsmen, yet it was difficult to break into the aerospace tooling market. In the quality audits the same question always arose, how do you insure your parts are dimensionally correct? It was this requirement to verify dimensional accuracy of large parts, which led us on a search.The cost of a co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) large enough to measure 5 to 30+ foot parts was prohibitive to our budget. Additionally, resetting the part on a CMM added significant time and expense. The real value was in making components right the first time and knowing the part was accurate. Proving the machine tools accuracy was the solution. The machine could both make the part and inspect it. Our search for a method of proving machine tool accuracy began by looking at laser systems. Then we discovered the power of the SMX Laser Tracker. The Laser Tracker could calibrate the machine and inspect the parts right on the machine with incredible accuracy and portability, not only in the shop, but out in the field. It could do onsite data collection to determine mating part condition and profile, as well as assembly and alignment conditions. The following are some of the ways we have utilized the Tracker: Using SMX Insight Visual Pro software we best fit a mold for the X34 space plane to 3D CAD model to determine if mold could be used in as is condition after being shipped across the country, for lay up of graphite fiber wing skin. After establishing the deviation condition of the mold, we were able to anchor and manipulate it to minimize the actual error, to the CAD model it was created from.
CAD model with data points Actual data plot of deviations (spikes)
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