Tower Tool Company is a specialist engineering toolmaker commissioned by Meggitt Polymer Solutions to reverse engineer a new tool to produce a component for a helicopter from a CAD model of the component.
Once designed, Tower Tool was keen to verify its accuracy against the existing CAD model. Key to this was developing a highly accurate representation of the new tool. The use of a coordinate measurement machines was discounted because of their inability to measure more than one point at a time, meaning it would have taken time to develop an accurate CAD representation.
However, by employing the Phase Vision Quartz range of white light scanners, speed and accuracy were combined, delivering a set of readings within a few minutes which created a highly accurate CAD model of the new tool to be produced. An inspection report was then produced to show compliance to the requirements of the original CAD representation.
Tower Tool's Myles Ball commented: “While the cost of the component was not enormous, accuracy was vital as it was to be used in a state-of-the-art aerospace application. We couldn't afford to wait for accurate readings from a CMM and weren't convinced by laser scanning either, but the Phase Vision equipment delivered on both speed and accuracy and allowed us to prove that our new tool was in line with the CAD requirements.”
Ralph Weir of Phase Vision added: “This applications shows clearly the advantages of white light scanning over other measurement techniques, particularly when speed is of the essence and accuracy cannot be compromised either.”
www.phasevision.com
