All Features
Rina Molari-Korgel
What a busy year for the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS). To get you updated, I will need to throw a lot of numbers and dates your way. Here we go!
The 2015 Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) in Hollywood, Florida, was a great success. Forty-five exhibitors and a newly expanded…
In aerospace vehicle manufacturing and assembly, including that at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, measurements of composite part thickness are required for ensuring that underlying processes are within tolerance, and for achieving outer-mold line-control surface requirements.
This article…
Belinda Jones
This past summer, the Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte were awarded an Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech) grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department.…
Thermal chambers have found a place in the psyche of test, quality, and production engineers—and for good reason. Chambers have been a staple for testing and conditioning materials and electronics for many decades.
First developed as passive conditioning tools, chambers have become standard fare…
NIST
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Intel have reported success in using an X-ray scattering technique to accurately measure features on a silicon chip to within fractions of a nanometer, or about the width of a single silicon atom.
The achievement could…
William Tandler
Editor's note: The original version of this “classic” article by William Tandler first appeared in Quality Digest media in June 2008 and was based on the ASME Y14.5 1994 standard. Updated here to address the ASME Y14.5 2009 standard, it is an alphabetically organized primer of the terms that…
Michael Huda
What happens to products when color goes wrong? It’s wrong color that keeps discount stores in business. Copy paper that isn’t quite bright enough, a label with the wrong color red, or a pillowcase that’s a shade off from the rest of the sheets, and the product is rejected. A discounter can buy…
New River Kinematics
Learning to effectively use and troubleshoot geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) analysis can be a saving grace when you’re faced with the question, “Why did my check fail?”
This article will explain the fundamental principles of GD&T evaluation and provide practices to…
Dan Perreault
Sponsored Content
The CMM, or coordinate measuring machine, has long been the standard for dimensional inspection of complex parts across a variety of industries. But has the CMM outlived its usefulness? Is this technology now obsolete in the face of new technologies such as 3D scanning?
The …
Marc Silverstein
Because many types of image analyses are performed to meet the different needs of industries and applications, imaging software and microscope companies have created software that serves as a “jack of all trades,” offering a variety of tools that apparently allow you to accomplish just about…
Meindert Anderson
Sponsored Content
Ultrasonic flaw detection is a powerful nondestructive testing (NDT) technology and a well-established test method in many industries. However it can seem complex to a person who has not worked with it.
Modern ultrasonic flaw detectors are small, portable, microprocessor-based…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Life may be as unpredictable as a box of chocolates, but ideally, you always know what you’re going to get from a quantum dot. A quantum dot should produce one, and only one, photon—the smallest constituent of light—each time it is energized. This characteristic makes…
Alex Lucas
Sponsored Content
Has your business ever dealt with a bottleneck caused by your inability to check parts quickly? Have you ever missed a shipment deadline because your coordinate measuring machine (CMM) couldn’t measure a production batch in a timely manner? Could you manufacture more parts if you…
The inspection and characterization of machine parts is still subject to research. Although optical means of measurement are very promising in respect to speed and precision, they are still not capable of measuring difficult-to-reach inner geometries. In this article, we will demonstrate our …
Exact Metrology
Josh Schradin, one of the 3D Scanning specialists at Exact Metrology’s Cincinnati facility, recently completed a computed tomography (CT) scanning project involving aluminum castings measuring approximately 12 in. x 6 in. x 6 in. and weighing 10 to 15 pounds.
The company’s new metrology-grade GE…
Rina Molari-Korgel
In the business of metrology services, a critical part of the process is setting expectations with customers and their management teams. Setting the stage for any measurement or inspection job requires clear communication so that both parties understand what they will receive in return for…
Mike Richman
The 31st annual Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC), which concluded on July 23rd, delivered some fantastic career-enhancing opportunities for metrologists from 13 nations, representing leading research institutions as well as industries such as aerospace, space hardware, antenna,…
TE Connectivity
Connectors and lead wires provide the electrical connection between the coils of an LVDT position sensor and signal conditioning electronics. Choosing between a connector and lead wires, when specifying an LVDT or other sensor, often depends on the application and its environment.
Below are some…
NIST
Restoration is well underway for NIST’s 4.45-million newton (equivalent to 1 million pounds-force) deadweight machine, the largest in the world. The three-story-tall deadweight, comprising a stack of stainless-steel discs weighing about 50,000 pounds each, was disassembled last winter for the…
NIST
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have come up with a way to shrink a research instrument generally associated with large machines down to a pinpoint-precision probe.
This electron spin resonance probe employs a large-scale technique used for decades as a…
NIST
(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- JILA researchers have designed a microscope instrument so stable that it can accurately measure the 3D movement of individual molecules over many hours—hundreds of times longer than the current limit measured in seconds.
The technology was designed to track the…
Dan Perreault
To make 3D scanning useful, you really need to understand the types of data files that can be exported or saved from the process. This is particularly important if you’re considering the purchase of a 3D scanner, or are paying for 3D scanning services.
If you’re paying for a service, you might…
Clive Fraser
Editor’s note: This week, Quality Digest Daily will be looking at some of the key technologies on display at the Coordinate Metrology Society's annual conference (CMSC). The CMSC, taking place this year July 20–24 in Hollywood, Florida, is the gathering place for users, service providers, and…
Edward Herceg
Position feedback sensors for hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders have used one of three traditional technologies: magnetostrictive, variable resistance, and variable inductance sensors. Occasionally other sensor technologies have been used successfully in this application, but the focus of this…
Mike Richman
Editor's note: This week, Quality Digest Daily will be looking at some of the key technologies on display at the Coordinate Metrology Society's annual conference (CMSC). The CMSC, taking place this year July 20–24 in Hollywood, Florida, is the gathering place for users, service providers, and…
