George Schuetz Director of Precision Gages
Charting Roughness For Grit-Blasted Surfaces
When an engineer includes a surface finish spec on a print, the intent is usually not just to make the part look good. Surface finish affects how a part will fit, wear, reflect light, transmit heat, distribute lubrication and accept coatings. The finish should be determined by the part’s function: A surface should fulfill engineering requirements without producing a higher-quality finish than necessary.
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Striking The Right Chord For Partial Diameters
Measuring the diameter of a hole is one of the most common inspection tasks in a production environment. Given the number and types of tolerances for diameters, many different gaging techniques are available to do these checks. From calipers to air gaging and everything in between, there is an appropriate gage for the application.
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Caliper Tips And Tricks
Calipers, which can be Vernier, dial or digital, are versatile tools for basic length measurement. They can be used on the shop floor, in the inspection room or even in the home by hobbyists.
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Skidded Probes For Roughness Measurement
ANSI and ISO standards include many different parameters for measuring surface finish. While these parameters are useful in many applications to ensure or enhance functionality, Ra, or average roughness, is by far the most common measure of surface finish. It is included in most specs, and it is both a good starting point and a basic benchmark of process consistency.
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Measuring Surface Finish On Large ODs
The irregularity of a machined surface is the result of the machining process, including the choice of tool, feed rate, speed of the tool, machine geometry and environmental conditions. This irregularity consists of high and low spots that are machined into a surface by the tool bit or a grinding wheel. These peaks and valleys can be measured and used to define the condition and, sometimes, the performance of the surface.
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Measuring Squareness With Air
The right angle is one of those things that man has created in his mind. In nature it happens only by chance. However, the importance of this concept—which results from the perpendicular intersection of lines or surfaces—applies to many things, including architecture, civil engineering, agriculture and manufacturing.
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The Point Of Error-Free Measurements
Test indicators are extremely useful and versatile test instruments. Spending a little time worrying about the details of the contact points will help improve the whole measurement process.
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Pushing Air Gaging Limits
Air gaging allows you to measure many jobs faster, more conveniently and more accurately than other gaging methods.
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The Long And Short On Depth Gages
Depth gages are among the simplest of indicator gages, typically consisting of a short-range indicating device mounted through a reference bar or plate. Though they may be simple, depth gages are used in thousands of critical applications.
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Getting The Right Rz
As the manufacturing of parts continues to become internationalized, it is not uncommon for different standards developed in various countries to become blended into new international standards. Once new international standards become available, the world is expected to embrace them and begin using them. However, this may not always be the case.
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Calibrating Threaded Plug Gages
Just like gage blocks provide the basis for dimensional measurement, threaded plug gages are the fundamental tools used to verify that an internal thread is correct. Different types of threads serve different purposes, so there are many different threaded plug gages. As with any reference standard, these threaded plug gages need to be inspected to ensure that they are within their original specification.
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The Essentials Of Gage Calibration
Establishing and maintaining a regular program of gage calibration is necessary not only to maintain quality, but also for customer requirements.
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