Given the intense competition between engineering subcontractors it is often the businesses with unique selling points that stand out from the crowd. One such successful company is Washington, Tyne and Wear based RDS Precision Engineering. In addition to establishing a reputation for delivering on time and on budget, the busy company’s main differentiator is its highly developed quality ethos. To help ensure the premium quality of the company’s output, regular investments are made in high-precision inspection equipment.
The latest addition to RDS Precision Engineering’s impressive quality control department is an Accretech SURFCOM NEX 041 CNC measuring station that provides the company with high-precision, two-dimensional contour and surface roughness measurement capabilities.
RDS Precision Engineering was established in 1991 by brothers Robert and David Bone with the aim of becoming a successful independent supplier of precision engineered components. Due to the quality of the company’s output and the efficiency of its services, the business soon achieved its founders’ ambitions. To enable RDS to increase its capacity and expand its range of precision manufacturing services, over the past three decades regular investments have been made in a range of CNC machine tools and advanced inspection equipment.
Explaining the recent Accretech purchase. RDS Precision Engineering Director, Rob Bone, said, “A policy of regular investments has resulted in our skilled staff now having access to a wide range of fist-class inspection equipment. As a BS EN ISO 9001 certified business that counts many companies involved in technically demanding industries as customers, quality has always been, and will continue to be, our number one priority.
“We use a selection of standard inspection equipment, such as CMMs and vision measuring systems. Also, given the demanding specifications and challenging dimensional tolerances of many of our components, we also use highly-precise specialised metrology equipment, such as our recently purchased advanced Accretech CNC contour and roughness measuring system.
“The decision to purchase the Accretech system was a simple one. Some time ago, a major customer of ours searched the market for an easy to use CNC measuring station that could deliver high-precision, two-dimensional contour measurements, although several alternative systems failed to match the business’ exacting standards, a SURFCOM NEX 041 proved to be the ideal solution.
“As we were recently looking to upgrade our inspection capabilities in this area, given our customer’s exceptionally high precision standards, the in-depth research they had undertaken before their Accretech purchase, and as a result of their recommendation, we also recently invested in a SURFCOM NEX 041.”
The SURFCOM NEX 041 is an advanced, CNC measuring station that delivers high-precision, two-dimensional, physical contour measurement. Ideal for the manual or CNC, high-precision measurement of contour geometries on demanding applications, such as ball screws and large bearings, the advanced Accretech system has an impressive contour measuring accuracy of ±(0.8+|2H|/100).
In accordance with Accretech’s philosophy of providing the highest standards of precision with trouble-free operation, thanks to the use of kinematic magnetic holders, the SURFCOM NEX 041’s contour styli can be swapped out effortlessly and with high positioning accuracy. Also, to enable even the most difficult to reach workpiece positions to be inspected a wide range of contour measuring styli are available.
Ideal for use by both novices and experienced quality control personnel, user-friendly SURFCOM NEX 041’s ACCTee operating software is extremely intuitive. In addition to measurements being fully automated, the system’s calibration and adjustment procedures are also simple procedures.
Rob Bone continued. “Following a trouble free installation and operator training, as the SURFCOM NEX 041’s operation is so straightforward our staff soon mastered its operation. Now in regular use, our new Accretech machine is proving invaluable. For instance, we were previously using a shadowgraph to measure a regularly manufactured family of parts with demanding angular contour specifications and struggling to achieve the required levels of precision. Now, we are able to load each of these parts onto the SURFCOM NEX 041, recall the relevant program and instigate a precise, fully automatic CNC measuring routine. Not only has the Accretech machine improved our precision standards related to these challenging components, it has also slashed the time taken to inspect them. In fact, as our contour inspection routines have been automated, now, after the operator has loaded each part onto the machine, he is able to perform other duties whilst waiting for inspection cycles to be completed.
“So successful has our use of our SURFCOM NEX 041 been, soon after its installation, we returned to Accretech UK to purchase an additional T-stylus set that now allows us to make very accurate contour measurements inside small bores in both downwards and upwards directions. This allows us to measure complex geometries and diameters deep inside bores that were prevously very difficult or impossible to measure.”
Accretech designs and manufactures a wide range of high-precision, cost-effective instruments for the accurate and efficient measurement of workpiece surfaces, forms and contours. Used throughout the world by quality conscious businesses involved in some of the most demanding industries, such as the automotive, aerospace and medical sectors, Accretech products are found in both quality departments and in serial production situations on assembly lines.
Accretech’s extensive range of contour measuring devices allow workpieces features, such as angles, radii, distances and coordinates to be quickly inspected with high levels of precision. Rather than using the ball screw and nut arrangement, employed in less capable systems, Accretech’s products benefit from the use of advanced linear technology. This superior arrangement results in significant reductions in mechanical wear and ensures that all products retain their accuracy specification and remain maintenance free. These advantages provide users with considerable cost savings over the life of each system.
As all users’ contour measuring needs differ, SURFCOM NEX machines can be specified with the addition of a wide range of modular accessories and sensors, guaranteeing the delivery of systems that exactly matches their intended use. The availability of these accessories and sensors means that Accretech systems remain ‘future-proof’ as they can be modified as users’ inspection needs change.
Contact: Tim Wood
T +44 (0)2476 651774
woodt@accretech.eu
www.accretech.eu/en/surface-measuring-systems/contour-measuring-systems/surfcom-nex-040041/