Volumetric verification and compensation of geometric errors by means of laser technology, geometric errors
06-05-2016
The IK4-TEKNIKER technology centre is to present its volumetric compensation and verification service for geometric errors on machine tools and coordinate measuring machines at BIEMH.
IK4-TEKNIKER, the Basque Technology Centre, is to present its volumetric compensation and verification service for machine tools (MT) and coordinate measuring machines (CMM) at the next edition of the Machine Tool Biennial to be held from May 30 to June 1 at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC).
This service uses laser interferometry technology or, more specifically, laser tracer and laser tracker which allows you to discover and volumetrically characterise errors on CMMs and MTs of 3, 4 and/or 5 axes with machine sizes starting at one metre.
MTs and CMMs express deviations caused by the inexact manufacturing of machine components, by the wear of functional parts, by ruler reading errors and by elastic deformations involving the structure. As these sources of error have repercussions on machine positioning and orientation accuracy it is very important to measure and correct said geometric deviations to optimise manufacturing and measuring capacities on systems of this kind.
Historically, measuring techniques have been used to perform independent and/or local characterisations of a machine’s geometric errors on the different axes. These methods, however, in addition to lengthening machine verification times, are not always suitably adapted to meet current verification requirements and can be associated with constraints in terms of determining errors throughout the entire volume of a machine.
The market is currently evolving towards manufacturing practices involving larger parts with narrower tolerances and machines with higher levels of performance, operating ranges and accuracy which makes it necessary to apply new volumetric verification and compensation systems and also implement suitable procedures to carry out these activities.
After two years of operations, the service offered by IK4-TEKNIKER is delivering satisfactory results and has made it possible to measure and correct spatial position and orientation of automatic positioning systems such as MTs or CMMs by only resorting to readings linked to multiple interferometric distances.