ROMER Introduces New, Enhanced Non-Contact Tube Inspection Systems

Inspection Probes and Absolute Encoders Simplify Tube Measurement and Manufacturing Process

ROMER, a brand of Hexagon Metrology, Inc., today announced their new line of non-contact tube inspection systems. The enhanced product line provides solutions for a wide array of tube and wire bending applications including tube inspection, bend correction to reduce scrap, reverse engineering, and fixture verification. System enhancements focus on expanded flexibility, simplicity, and ease-of-use to increase shop productivity.

New to the system, a range of non-contact, infrared probes provide operator-assisted visual notification via a laser stripe indicating the measured area. The operator can view where data points are acquired on a tube or wire during the inspection process. The probes are interchangeable with traditional ball probes without the need for re-calibration, delivering true plug-and-play capability. Brackets, flanges, bosses or other geometric features can now be included in the measurement routine. Besides saving time, no re-calibration also provides an additional layer of error proofing in the field. As with ROMER’s legacy systems, the non-contact probing feature enables measurement of the most flexible tubes or wires from 4mm to 130mm in diameter, without risk of deflection.

Zvonimir Kotnik, Director of the Business Management group of Hexagon Metrology, Inc. sums up the new tube inspection product line, “The straightforward operation of the overall system guarantees simple, flawless operation. By making the measurement process easier for the operator, we have improved efficiency, accuracy, and productivity for the entire tube shop”.

ROMER’s tube inspection system is based on the patented ROMER Absolute Arm portable CMM. Proprietary absolute encoders are located in the arm’s primary axes, so the arm always knows the position of its joints. This eliminates antiquated homing procedures, so the operator can turn on the system and start measuring immediately. The Absolute Encoders provide probing volumetric accuracy down to ±0.023mm depending on the model. The articulating arm also features low profile, Zero-G counterbalance to stabilize its weight for one-handed operation and effortless control above and below its centerline.

ROMER’s tube inspection system utilizes the Data Overlay Camera System (DOCS) software platform. Pictures can be taken with the arm’s onboard digital camera, and DOCS overlays the tube wire frame onto the digital picture. This enables the inspection report to show exactly how the tube was supported or fixtured during measurement. DOCS communicates with most CNC bender interfaces, so corrected bend data can be sent directly to the CNC bending machine, reducing the process of trial and error associated with manual measurements. DOCS user training is generally 2 days as compared to 5 to 6 days for traditional CMM software.

About Hexagon Metrology, Inc.

Hexagon Metrology serves the high precision measurement and inspection needs of worldwide manufacturers with its extensive line of metrology hardware, software, accessories and customer services. The company's name-brand portfolio of quality assurance products include Brown & Sharpe, Cognitens, Leica Geosystems, ROMER, Sheffield, PC-DMIS, DEA, Leitz and TESA. Hexagon Metrology has an unrivaled installed base of more than 1.5 million handheld, stationary and portable measurement devices, and over 35,000 seats of PC-DMIS metrology software. More information is at http://www.HexagonMetrology.us. 

The company is a business unit of Hexagon AB (Stockholm, Sweden), Hexagon's is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm exchange (HEXA-B) and has a secondary listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The Hexagon group consists of more than 12,000 employees located in 43 countries, and net sales of about 2.2 billion Euro.

NVision Specialized Training Assists Navy's Reverse Engineering

Customized, on-site training provided by NVision, Inc. is helping a Naval Air Station (NAS) improve its reverse engineering process.

After experiencing significant frustration and sub-standard scanning results, the NAS contacted NVision, which regularly works with every branch of the U.S. military and specializes in providing scanning solutions and customized, on-site training in the use of laser scanners for reverse engineering. An NVision engineer traveled to the base and spent four days extensively training its personnel on site in the use of laser scanning equipment and software. "Our on-site training with actual parts is one of the reasons why NVision's work with the military continues to grow," says Colin Ellis, Engineering Manager at NVision. "NVision is unique in that we provide full turnkey solutions from start to finish including training instead of having clients purchase separate hardware, software, and training from different places, which happened in this case."

Engineers and machinists at the base regularly need to reverse engineer complex replacement parts for naval aircraft in order to keep the planes and helicopters in peak flying condition. Although this NAS purchased a 3D laser scanner for reverse engineering from another vendor a few years ago, the vendor's lack of a thorough training program limited the ability of its personnel to reverse engineer parts in military aircraft. Sadly, the original training was on parts completely unrelated to those used at an NAS facility and with software not suitable for the station's needs.

The NVision engineer initially had some difficulty using the base's scanning equipment due to its inherent limitations. These issues included a very small laser strip width, tiny stand-off distance, and limited depth of field. Thankfully he was he able to resolve all of the NAS's issues and concerns by providing the facility with two new high-speed portable workstation computers and extensive training on XOR software using the station's own parts and real-world scenarios.

"Fortunately, with NVision's superior level of on-site training and the XOR software, we were able to bring the NAS completely up to speed on reverse engineering their complex parts," says Ellis. "The base now plans to replace their current rudimentary and slow scanner with an NVision high-accuracy and wide-stripe scanner in order to speed up their reverse engineering process even more."

For more information, contact NVision, Inc., 440 Wrangler Dr, Suite 200, Coppell, TX 75019. Ph: 972.393.8000, Fax: 972.393.8002. E-mail: sales@nvision3d.com. Visit NVision's Web site at www.nvision3d.com.

About NVision

NVision, Inc. (www.nvision3d.com) was established in 1990 with one goal in mind: to provide customers with the highest accuracy non-contact optical measurement systems and services for Reverse Engineering and Inspection. Focusing our expertise on the aerospace, power generation, and oil/gas industries, NVision provides both contract scanning services and systems sales to companies throughout North America. Our elite team of engineers provides customers with an unmatchable level of experience and is able to advise and assist with the most difficult engineering challenges.

NVision's clients include industry leaders such as Alstom, Boeing, GE, Lockheed Martin, Lear, NASA, Porsche, Raytheon, Siemens, Toyota, and every branch of the U.S. military.