All Features
Robert Clem
Hello readers! 2009 brings CMSC into its 25th year. CMSC has grown from a small gathering of users and developers who had a common problem to solve—the standardization of theodolite targets. Today, CMSC has morphed from a conference-based organization into a society whose focus is on the promotion…
Olkiluoto, the world’s largest and most modern nuclear power station, with an output of 1.600 Mwatts, relies on German technology. During the final assembly of turbine manufacturing at Siemens, blades are installed to the rotor and measured in the housing. This is a balancing act between optimal…
Daniel M. Smith
Why would anyone start a new metrology business in this economic climate? Why would they do it in Michigan, the epicenter of the automotive industry recession? The short answer is that if you can identify a clear need in the marketplace for your product and have the ability and expertise to bring…
Belinda Jones
As energy prices continue to soar and the public—with increased awareness and concern for the environment—continue to demand environmental accountability from manufacturers, companies are looking long and hard at ways to decrease their influence on the environment. But there are competing goals.…
Frank Gray
In sports, it's always the fundamentals that your coaches emphasize, like the techniques that you first learn when you’re starting to play baseball—how to hold the ball properly, how to stand and hold a bat, or how to field a grounder. The basics about the sport, if performed perfectly, yield a…
Robert Clem
Greetings from your new Chairperson! It’s my pleasure to lead the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) into a new year. 2009 is an exciting time for CMS, as this year marks the 25th anniversary of our annual conference, the Coordinate Metrology Society Conference, better known as CMSC. This…
In just the past two years, the functionality of portable computer-aided metrology system (CAMS) in harsh factory environments has improved a great deal. A few examples of today’s improved instrumentation/measurement technology are laser trackers, digital photogrammetry systems, laser radars,…
CMSC
As the world leader in armored prestige vehicles, CARAT-Duchatelet counts sheiks, kings, presidents, CEOs, and other wealthy VIPs among its customers. Before stretching and armoring luxury vehicles, CARAT-Duchatelet engineers remove seats and trim, and scan the entire vehicle body using Metris K-…
George Rodrigues
Pharmaceutical processes typically take place on the scale of gallons or liters, even tens of thousands of liters. So why would anyone worry about one little microliter? Because in some situations, deviations as small as one microliter can mean the difference between success and failure.
Modern…
CMSC
The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), a $1.4 billion research facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is a feat of precision engineering, execution, and control. Each component of the SNS machine requires exactness in location and assembly only achieved through the use of laser tracking…
In 2007, all three Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teams qualified for the Chase for NASCAR’s Nextel Cup. On top of this formidable accomplishment, RCR’s top race car drivers did great: Kevin Harvick won the famous Daytona 500, Jeff Burton won in Texas, and Clint Bowyer won in New Hampshire and…
CMSC
The 24th Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference convened at the Embassy Suites in Concord, North Carolina, from July 21-25, 2008. With a record number of attendees, this year’s conference offered a multifaceted program consisting of a sold-out exhibition hall with 54 exhibitors, a workshop,…
Fred Mason
There’s an amazing amount of information available about what uncertainty is and how to specify it. If I understood it completely, I would become a consultant and stop writing this column. In spite of that, this column may shed some light on this increasingly popular, and misunderstood, topic.…
M. Scott Tillison
As the skilled, baby-boomer workforce nears retirement, years of technical expertise is exiting as well. Factories are watching years of knowledge leave their organizations, and how to replace these skilled workers has manufacturers concerned.
In a 2008 survey of 100 senior manufacturing…
Fred Mason
When thinking about measurement devices and systems, the subject of accuracy comes up. Accuracy has been discussed in past columns of “Measurement Matters.” In the context of measurement system specifications, there’s more concern about the uncertainty of measurement, not its accuracy. So, what is…
Fred Mason
When thinking about measurement devices and systems, the subject of accuracy comes up. Accuracy has been discussed in past columns of “Measurement Matters.” In the context of measurement system specifications, there’s more concern about the uncertainty of measurement, not its accuracy. So, what is…
CMSC
The Car of Tomorrow, a new racecar style for NASCAR’s NEXTEL Cup Series, made its debut in March 2007 with much fanfare. Seven years in the making, NASCAR’s research and development center rolled up its shirtsleeves and conceptualized their dream template. Their ideal racecar would implement the…
Rina Molari-Korgel
The Coordinate Metrology Society is pleased to post a diverse but technically packed week of presentations and activities for CMSC 2008. This year’s record number of 46 submitted abstracts has resulted in an exciting lineup for you, our attendees.The technical agenda commences with Jon Cowart…
Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) are a basic requirement for any industrial manufacturing facility conforming to the specifications of drawings and standards. Accuracy needs to be observed, verified, and certified with respect to a comprehensive set of standardization rules. Highly precise…
William Tandler
Encoding the mating flange:
In Workshop No. 7, we used Smart GD&T processes to encode the operation, assembly, and other functions of a flange. In this workshop, we take a deeper look at the mating aspect of the game by encoding the mating flange. The additional steps, 7 through 9, are…
William Tandler
T
he actual purpose of GD&T:
It’s common to think that the primary purpose of GD&T is to unambiguously communicate design intent to manufacturing and inspection. In fact, the most important objective is to ensure that what we communicate is worth communicating, and that it…
Fred Mason
It’s becoming common to refer to the devices used for dimensional and coordinate measurement—vision/optics, lasers, touch probes, and others—as sensors. Multisensor measuring systems use two or more of these devices. It can be confusing because none of these “sensors” is actually a sensor. The…
William Tandler
What’s a datum reference frame?
As discussed in workshop No. 5, datum reference frames (DRF) are coordinate systems, and preferably—at least to start with—Cartesian coordinate systems.
As we know, coordinate systems serve to orient and locate objects, and in the world of GD&T in particular…
Rina Molari-Korgel
Welcome to the second issue of CMSC World—the place to catch up on the latest happenings in portable 3-D metrology and imaging. This is the official newsletter of the Coordinate Metrology Society, and once again we are gearing up for our Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference—“the” conference…
FARO
At rare moments, an idea comes along that makes people rethink how jobs are done from that point on. The engineers at Falk PLI Engineering & Surveying have hit on such an idea for one of the most basic concepts of all: measuring.
The larger-than-life nature of steelmaking would seem to belie…
