Manufacturers keep measurement in-hand

Working out the final tolerance between an Airbus engine and its enclosing nacelle is no easy task. The parts include thousands of tiny, precisely designed dimensions. Up until recently, engineers would measure each individual component on coordinate measuring machine (CMM) tables. But attempting to measure the intricate design of the entire engine system on the factory floor was almost impossible.

That is, however, until portable CMMs were introduced. Engineers at Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W’s) assembly operations in Middletown, Connecticut, have been using these handheld CMMs for a number of years to drive down costs and save time. Now, it seems even more manufacturers are turning to portable CMMs to take measurements. The trend is being driven by an improvement in the technical design of the units, which now feature even better accuracy and design.

“Handheld CMMs can make it easier to measure larger parts,” said Frank Shevelow, a technician at Advance CNC Machining. “Some articulated arms, for instance, have a diameter reach of 9ft. They can also be more advantageous when there is a need to measure multiple axes at one time. They allow engineers to measure multiple aspects of a feature at one time, such as diameter and concentricity of a bore… Some software will allow you to attach devices such as a laser scanner to scan parts and compare them to a CAD model.”