Online measurement in CNC machining

In the field of precision machining, there are many factors that can affect the yield of finished products; human factors are one of them. How to reduce the impact of human factors on yield is the focus of what we’ve improved in the past. In recent years, we have imported the online measurement system and established an automatic production line, which has successfully reduced the impact of human factors on the yield of finished products.

Take WKPT’s online measurement as an example, its advantages can be examined from two aspects in practical application. From the specification side, the measurement method we’ve imported is contact measurement, such as Air Plug Gauge, which can measure with an accuracy of 0.002mm. The slight error caused by tool wear in the process is directly transferred to the machining correction through the measurement results. The CNC machines will do the compensation automatically in a simple and easy way, saving time by online workers correcting manually.

From the efficiency side, the I.D. and O.D. of the workpiece can be measured at the same time by online measurement, which can’t be measured together manually. Compared with manual measurement, the time of using machine measurement is greatly shortened to 1/8 of manual measurement. The measured data will be directly collected into the computer database in the form of Statistical Process Control (SPC) to assist long-term quality control tracking. In this way, it not only saves the time of filling in forms by manual measurement in the past but also allows the SPC to be utilized effectively. Finally, online measurement also avoids manual errors, which reduces the possible loss of defective workpieces and the waiting time for downtime.

Overall, the automation efficiency of online measurement lowers the original labor cost by 50% and increases the daily production efficiency by 26%, which brings positive benefits to us in reducing the impact of human factors and improving total efficiency.