Werth Coordinate Measuring Equipment and AGIE Manufacturing Machinery in Combination - The Way to Boost Productivity

On-line Geometry Correction for Wire EDM

Rapid, high precision measurement and recording of workpiece contours provides high efficiency in measurement technology as well as in production engineering. Such measurement and recording allows for rapid copying of master components, quick and efficient quality control of the products, and the right kind of on-line feedback.  This feedback provides for direct improvement of product quality by establishing the appropriate interfaces between wire EDM machines from AGIE and coordinate measuring equipment from Werth Messtechnik GmbH.  The ideal preconditions for achieving this can be created.

 

Scanning with multisensor coordinate measuring machines

To assess the workpiece geometry, a Werth multi-sensor coordinate measuring machine with image processing sensor is used (Fig. 1). With the help of these units, complete contours can be recorded.  Intelligent software allows for automatic processing (for example, automatic contour connection of individual contour patterns). This means that even large components can be assessed with precision measured in microns.

 

Rapid master part copy

With the help of the Werth-AGIE on-line data transfer system, master parts or models can be optically scanned extremely quickly, and copies of these parts can be manufactured directly using the geometric data acquired. This does not require the creation of CAD models, although this can of course also be done using the acquired data.

 

Precise quality control

The data relating to the scanned master part recorded by the Werth coordinate measuring machine is read into the Werth BestFit software system together with the CAD data of the reference component (DXF, IGES, or other CAD format). It can then be automatically best fit to the reference contour itself, or to the specified tolerance zone profile. The resulting deviations between the reference and actual values are then displayed in graphic form (Fig. 2).

 

Economical machine tool correction

To carry out correction of a wire EDM machine, for example, a similar procedure is adopted. Once the master part has been manufactured, it is scanned on the coordinate measuring machine.  Then Werth BestFit software is used to make a comparison with the CAD data used for manufacturing(Fig. 2). The vectoral correction of the CAD data is then carried out by the Werth BestFit software and deviations from the reference values are determined. This new geometric data is then fed into the AGIE wire EDM machine and is used for further processing. A second quality check after this correction process shows very small deviations from the original reference contour (Fig. 3).

In addition to the process described, it is also possible, for example, for Werth measuring equipment to be used for measuring and recording Erowa clamping systems. Data transfer is of course accomplished on-line. Analogous methods of operation for ram type EDM users can also be applied.

(fig.2) BestFit of contours after wire EDM

(fig.3) BestFit of contours after geometric correction and subsequent EDM