Digital 3D touch sensor wins Hexagon’s support

Hexagon has announced the winner of the second cohort of its coveted ‘Sixth Sense’ open innovation platform, which nurtures start-ups creating solutions to pressing manufacturing challenges.The Sixth Sense platform offers business insight, access to experts and mentorship, as well as exposing them to Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division’s global customer and partner base, which includes the likes of Audi, Airbus, Meta and Zimmer Biomet.

GelSight won the competition, following an intense 10-week programme of product refinement and business development, which culminated in a pitching competition at The Hague, Netherlands, where the team presentedits progress to a panel of judges representing experts in technology, investment and Hexagon leadership. As part of its winning package, GelSight will receive access to Hexagon’s extensive customer base to expand its business, andintegrate with Hexagon products and further resources to aid globalisation.

Youssef Benmokhtar, CEO of GelSight, says: “Many inspections in the industry today are still performed by an inspector simply looking at or touching a part to identify, and sometimes measure, a defect. This is a subjective, non-repeatable, non-traceable process. Our gel material acts as artificial skin, providing extremely detailed and rapid surface characterisation. We have digitised the entire workflow – our technology analyses the readings to give users detailed 3D visualisation with up to 5 million data points that can help automate processes, cutting costs and time.

“Working with Sixth Sense has been such a memorable experience,” he adds.“We are proud and humbled to have been chosen and are looking forward to the future with Hexagon. The real work starts now.”
For further information https://sixthsense.hexagon.com

Trumpf to expand smart factory

Trumpf Group will add 55,800 sq ft to its production building for the manufacture of laser cutting, bending and welding machinery at Farmington, Connecticut. The project is part of ongoing recovery efforts related to damage sustained after an aircraft crashed into the production building in September of 2021. Trumpf will invest an estimated $40m into the project, which will include a smart factory that demonstrates advanced automated and connected precision sheet metal production. Completion is expected in May 2024.

“North America remains our most important business market outside of our domestic market in Germany,” says Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, CEO of the Trumpf Group. “This project is an important step toward the next generation of manufacturing for Trumpf and our customers across the United States.”
For further information www.trumpf.com

Blum touch probes prove their long service life

Employing measuring systems in the working area of a CNC machining centre is still an unfamiliar idea for some quality experts. With its probes in use at German company Scherzinger Pumpen, Blum-Novotest is demonstrating that automated measurement not only works effectively in this harsh environment and in two-shift operation, but does so reliably and accurately over many years.

“Our core competencies in manufacturing are in milling, turning and grinding, as well as logistics and assembly,” reports Mario Maier, head of process planning at Scherzinger Pumps. “We machine metal as well as plastic and, in so doing, achieve a high level of quality and reliably tight manufacturing tolerances. Blum touch probes and laser light barriers, which we use in many machining centres, help us to accomplish that. The probes have an astonishingly long service life.”

At Scherzinger, the Blum TC50 infrared probes primarily find use for measuring bores and for workpiece zero-point detection. The company machines housings for brine pumps, for example, from two sides by rotating the clamped components in the machine tool. As a point of note, the drive is located on one side, while the two gear wheels of the actual pump are located on the other side. Scherzingermachines the through-hole of the drive axis from the drive side in the first set-up. After finishing one side – there are five housings per set-up – the housings swivel by 180°to allow machining of the pump side.

To ensure that the two machining operations align precisely with each other, the probe (mounted in the machine spindle) measures the position of the through-hole on all five housings after swivelling. The measured positions are then taken into account during the second machining operation so that, for example, the threaded holes for the cover can be precisely aligned, drilled and cut.
For further information www.blum-novotest.com

Museum exhibit features MTC apprentices

Two MTC Training apprentices feature in a permanent exhibit at London’s Science Museum that aims to promote STEM (science, technology and mathematics) subjects to youngsters. ‘Technology Makes it Happen’, features a video of MTC Training apprentices Kieran Bullivant and Evadney Enock, who have recently completed their advanced manufacturing apprenticeships. In the video, the pair talk about their training and the opportunities that have opened up to them as a result. The exhibition is scheduled to remain in place at the Science Museum for at least 10 years.
For further information www.the-mtc.org

NCMT sponsors university racing team

University of Wolverhampton Racing (UWR) has gained a new official sponsor – machine tool supplier NCMT, best known in the UK and Ireland as the sole agent for selling the Japanese Okuma and Makino brands. The agreement was struck in mid-February 2023, in time for the first race of the Britcar Prototype Cup.UWR is the only student-run team that competes in the Prototype Cup using a Praga R1, a Czech-manufactured racing car eligible for the competition.

Jonathan Smart, managing director of NCMT, says: “We are delighted to start sponsoring UWR, which unlike all other student teams in the UK competes against professional racing teams. It gives their graduates the edge when trying to enter professional motorsport or other employment.Moreover, the Department of Engineering is especially committed to extending opportunities and promoting diversity in engineering and motorsport.”
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk