FAQs 3D Gauging

Custom gauges lack flexibility 

• Cannot compute geometry 

• Only tell you material condition at a particular point 

• If you want better certainty then the number of points needs to go up exponentiall 

Hand gauges lack consistency 

• Hand gauge 

• Fast but manual 

• Costly regular re-calibration 

• Usually inconsistent and operator dependent 

• Poor Gauge R&R 

Equator 

• Fast and automated 

• No costly re-calibration required 

• Consistent and not operator dependent 

• Excellent Gauge R&R 

Factors to consider 

• Purchase price 

• Cost of ownership – annual calibration 

• Shop floor temperatures 

• Size of CMM vs part 

• Operator training requirements 

• Equator extends the power and accuracy of CMMs onto the shop floor 

CMMs are very good at 

Measuring a variety of one-off parts that make good use of the whole volume, particularly large parts 

Comprehensive end-of-line inspection without process time constraints 

The measurement of complex constructed features using powerful CMM software 

But for small parts 

CMMs are expensive to control a process mid-way – keep for final inspection 

Expensive to buy and maintain volumetric accuracy of a CMM on the shop floor (usually bought for the largest parts) 

Used for so many tasks CMMs can be expensive bottlenecks 

Temperature change 

CMMs can cope with small changes in temperature but it affects performance 

Typically manufacturers quote 3 to 8 deg C range 

If your shop floor is closely controlled this is OK 

If not you cannot trust CMM measurements outside specified range 

The rate of change is the biggest issue 

Equator can easily cope with temperatures from 5 to 50 deg C by re-mastering