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Renishaw SPRINT scanner
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APEXBlade path planning
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Renishaw
Part set up on quick load corner vision fixture
Renishaw is set to showcase cutting-edge 3D scanning technology at the upcoming MACH 2014 show.
For the duration of the four-day event, which runs from April 7th-11th at the NEC, Birmingham, the British engineering giant and additive manufacturing champion will highlight a range of process control solutions that support the growing demand for lean manufacturing. New technologies for pre-processing machine calibration, off-line post-process measurement and 3D printing solutions will be on display at the Renishaw stand, boasting the company's advanced manufacturing systems.
Among the company’s major new introductions are a high-speed contact scanning system for CNC machining, a suite of products for the measurement of aerospace blades, a new range of modular fixtures for metrology applications and leading-edge software for checking the performance of rotary axes. Renishaw will also allow visitors the chance to have a closer look during the demonstrations of its Equator gauging system, including the first appearance of new process monitoring software in the UK.
This is the first time Renishaw will have two stands at MACH, with an additional booth in the new dedicated 3D Printing Zone, created by the show's organisers to demonstrate the importance of additive manufacturing in industry. Renishaw's place in the new Zone is key, as the UK's only manufacturer of metal additive manufacturing machines the company is vital in the development of the technology and its applications which are growing all the time.
Some of the Renishaw 3D scanning tech that will be on show at MACH 2014
SPRINT high-speed contact scanning system
Renishaw's game-changing contact scanning system opens up completely new process control opportunities for high-value CNC machine tools. The SPRINT system incorporates a new generation of on-machine scanning technology that will deliver a step-change in the benefits of process control, enabling fast and accurate form and profile data capture from both prismatic and complex 3D components.
For blade manufacture, the SPRINT system provides unprecedented capability for blade tip refurbishment and root blending applications. For multi-task machining applications, the SPRINT machine tool scanning system offers users completely new process control capabilities, including exceptionally repeatable diameter measurement cycles.
Additional functionality offered by the SPRINT system provides a rapid health-check of a CNC machine tool's linear and rotary axes in seconds, making it possible to implement a daily machine monitoring regime with little or no operator involvement.
Powerful suite of high performance blade measurement and analysis tools
At MACH Renishaw is highlighting a developing family of high performance hardware and software products for co-ordinate measuring machines that are specifically designed to aid the measurement and manufacturing of aerospace blades. All products complement the multi-award winning REVO 5-axis measurement system and include APEXBlade planning software for REVO sweep scanning and DMIS programming, MODUS aerofoil analysis for the calculation and reporting of blade section profile and aerofoil characteristics, and SurfitBlade to aid reverse engineering of the complete aerofoil.
Renishaw fixtures: the new single source for metrology fixturing
Following the acquisition of R&R Sales LLC in 2012, Renishaw has developed an extensive new range of modular fixturing designed specifically for co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs), vision systems and its Equator gauging system. Visitors to MACH 2014 will see that the new range offers a wide choice of base plates and components available in M4, M6 and M8 thread sizes and can be utilised for measurement applications across multiple industries, such as aerospace, automotive and medical.
New developments in understanding rotary axes performance
For visitors to MACH 2014 who use five-axis machine tools, Renishaw has further extended its solutions for checking the alignment and positioning performance of machine tool rotary axes with the launch of new off-axis rotary software for its XR20-W rotary axis calibrator. The new software for the highly successful XR20-W now allows it to be used to measure the rotary positioning accuracy of an axis on many configurations of five axis machine tools, where the XR20-W often cannot be mounted on the centre of rotation.
New process monitoring software for the Equator gauge
For visitors to MACH sourcing off-line measurement systems a new process monitoring window has been added to the shop-floor user interface for Renishaw's Equator gauging system. This instantly displays measurement results of inspected features to the operator on a bar-graph display. It also shows the history of measurement on each feature so that process trends can be seen. The system's re-mastering process can now be managed based on temperature limits, number of parts or time since last master.
