Shaped wires can be used to quickly create near net shape complex geometries and profiles at a significantly lower cost than with other production methods which require finishing work such as abrading.
Although flat profiles and shaped wire are used in a huge range of applications all have one thing in common: precision. Manufacturing tolerances are extremely tight, the surfaces of the cold-rolled profiles must be cleanly worked and exhibit no anomalies.
It is surprising that manually taken measurements requiring skilled workers are still widespread today. Such manual checks not only interrupt production flow but also consume valuable time and involve a certain margin of error.
The majority of optical systems equipped with laser or CCD cameras measure the shadow height of a product. This, however, like the human eye, is subject to heavy fluctuation if the product is not precisely aligned with the laser beam. A deviation of a twist angle of just 1⁰ may already lie outside the permissible tolerance range.
Zumbach’s answer is in-line height and width measurement of profiles which can be measured with extremely high precision, regardless of position and twist, and thus no worries about incorrect measurements. The robust and compact measuring systems can easily be integrated into existing production lines.
Measurements are performed using either laser technology as in Zumbach’s ODAC®, DVW 1, DVO 2 models or the light-cut method with image processing as in its Profilemaster® PMM 30/50/80.
With either method, fluctuations in the product position such as twist are taken into account to ensure an accurate measurement of the cross section profile.
Zumbach’s Profilemaster® uses the light-cut method with image processing